Little Things
by dfunkt21
Summary: It's the little things that make your life what it is, or what it could be.
1. Chapter 1

– Little Things –

-- Chapter 1

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No, but since I generally only understand about half of what you say anymore I don't think this should really count for anything."

Rolling her eyes, Lois spun her chair around until she was looking at Clark. Lifting her feet up, she rested them on her desk, letting her right leg rest on top of the left. "How in the world do you only understand about half of what I say?"

She watched him rub at an eye under his glasses for a second before he answered. "Well, it goes a little like this: you say something, Chloe says something, you two laugh, I have no idea why you're laughing and nobody bothers to explain it to me. Haven't you noticed how you say 'Explaining it ruins the joke, Smallville,' several times a day?"

Lois opened her mouth to retort but promptly shut it again when she realized she had nothing to say. Looking past her partner in crime, or at least that's what he was according to the people they brought to justice with their investigations, she focused her eyes on the bright skyline of Metropolis. Neither had had any plans for the night, so they'd ordered Chinese and decided to keep working on their current investigation of money laundering in the police force. There was always something, it seemed.

"Give me an example of something you didn't understand."

Clark tossed some papers on his desk and put his feet up, much like she had, with his hands behind his head. "It was a couple days ago. We were all sitting around before heading home for the night and you made reference to a band I'd never heard of. Chloe went on to make a joke about their guitar player, you two laughed, good times were had. I asked who the band was and was told that I should know these things by now, having been your partner for almost a year."

"If I said that, it's most likely true. Who was the guitarist?"

"Buckethead."

Lois couldn't help but grin as she remembered the joke Chloe had told when they'd made their way around to talking about him the other day. She saw Clark frown and shrugged. "What can I say? It's pretty funny if you know who Buckethead is."

"What I don't get is why somebody would be named Buckethead. I don't care if you're trying to get attention, or actually just like to wear an empty bucket on your head; that name is just dumb."

"Yeah, well, you would think so. What the hell is taking the food so long?"

"It's been ten minutes, Lois. About a third of the time they said it would take."

Lois sighed as her stomach rumbled, letting her feet fall to the floor. She'd barely eaten anything all day. She'd gotten caught up in the investigation, the rush of finding that piece of evidence that would put everything together and be the cherry on the sundae, which gave her the tendency to forget to eat. A couple frozen waffles as she walked out the door that morning and a bagel for lunch had not done much to keep her hunger satiated.

"You could have offered to have gone and gotten it, ya know."

"I could have. So could you."

"Yeah, but you're the guy. Go forth and bring back food for your woman."

Clark scoffed. "In what way are you my woman? In what world would you classify yourself as _anybody's_ woman?"

"That is entirely not the point. What entirely is the point is that you, being the man, should offer to do such things so that I don't have to wait so long for food. It's courteous, Smallville, something that you should be intimately familiar with. You're the most courteous person I've ever met, and always have been."

"I appreciate the compliment, but no, I am not going to go get food for you."

"Well it's too late now, but this is for future happenings. I assume we'll be getting more food delivered in the future, but instead of that you could go get the food."

"You know this whole equality thing that women fought for decades ago? Marches, burned bras and all that? Congratulations, it has been achieved. As such, you are allowed to be the courteous one in this insane partnership of ours and go get the food."

Lois rolled her eyes once more, running a hand back through her hair and grabbing her empty mug as she stood up. "You know what I'm hearing in all your talk? 'I don't want to help my partner and good friend because I'm lazy but can claim equality makes my laziness all right.' It's just not right, Smallville. Where's the love?"

"It's being delivered with the food in about seventeen minutes."

Lois shook her head as she walked through the empty bullpen, going through mostly by habit instead of looking at anything. She got to the coffee maker and poured herself some, almost to the brim. After adding a little sugar she took a sip, sighing as it made its way down to her stomach. Grabbing a disposable cup from next to the maker, she poured some coffee into it before grabbing it and heading back to her desk. She handed the disposable cup to Clark before sitting back down.

"See, I think this is the problem with men today. Most of you guys think that equality means that you don't have to do things for us anymore. I'm not saying that I want every door held open and every chair pulled out for me, but it doesn't hurt for it to happen every once in a while."

"I do those for you all the timeཀ"

Lois waved a hand at him absently. "I know, but you don't count. You're Smallville; old fashioned to the core is an apt description. Plus, ya know, I don't go out on dates with you."

"I have noticed that, yes. Not for lack of trying on Chloe's part, though."

Lois nodded as she swallowed. She knew that they should be working, but everybody else was already home so they could talk a little. "I knowཀ What the hell is up with her? She keeps telling me that you have a crush on me and want to go out with me, but won't ask me out for some stupid reason."

She watched as Clark's eyes darted away from her to something on his desk before her eyes dropped to the floor. "Really? She told me... well, she hasn't told me anything about what you supposedly think, but just that asking you out would be in my best interest. I'm fairly certain you wouldn't say yes, what with your all consuming love of Superman."

Lois's head snapped up from looking at the floor, meeting Clark's eyes. "I don't have an all consuming love for Supermanཀ Who told you that and how big are they?"

"How big are they?"

"I want to know how easy it'll be for me to knock 'em senseless."

Clark rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his coffee. "Are you really going to contend the fact that you are totally and completely infatuated with Superman?"

"Well, no, but what straight woman isn't? Tall, chiseled, saves people on a daily basis... what's not to lo... be infatuated with?" God, she was transparent.

Clark sighed heavily, loosening his tie a bit before letting his head loll back. "Yeah, everybody loves Superman. The only downside to a man like him is that he makes it difficult for the rest of us to get noticed by women at times."

"Aww, poor Smallville. Are we jealous of Superman and his effect on women?"

"More like his effect on a woman."

"_Really_? There's somebody you like? I didn't think that could happenཀ"

He looked at her, confused. "What? Why not?"

"Well, I've seen you go on about four dates since you got back from traveling the world, and none in the last few months. I've actually talked to Chloe about taking you out with us sometime to get you laid, maybe loosen you up a bit like you used to be." She waved a hand at him. "Ever since you got back, you're like ultra-conservative guy. You don't even grow your hair out anymore, and it looked good on you."

"While I appreciate that you used to check me out, I just think that's something for the younger folk. This is more who I am now."

"First, I did not used to check you out except when you turned up naked and with amnesia because, well, I'm human. Second, this is who you are now? You're boring guy? No wonder you aren't getting noticed by this woman you're interested in."

Clark removed his legs from the top of his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "I am not _boring_. I'm just... reserved."

"Well yeah, you should be fine then. Nothing turns on a woman like a reserved guy that blends in with a crowd. Come on, Smallvilleཀ If you had a crew cut you'd look like you belong in a conservative Connecticut town in 1960."

"Well now you're just being silly. Plus, if I look like I'm from 1960, who cares? I look how I look, the end."

"Let's see, whose fashion sense do we trust: the hip, edgy, modern woman with the great clothes or the guy that used wear plaid on a daily basis? Call me crazy, but I think that I'm going to go with me on this one." And idea hit Lois, making her break out into a smile. "Ohཀ New clothes for Smallvilleཀ Chloe and I could give you a new look, make you all noticeable to women and whatnot."

"What? No. Wait... what?"

"We can get you some modern clothes, make you look presentable for the year 2015."

Clark shook his head. "No. Just, no."

--

"Do the words 'No. Just, no.' mean anything to you people?"

Lois would have grinned, but she was too busy holding up a jacket to Clark, her tongue between her teeth as she decided if it looked ok. Shrugging, she figured it could go back on the rack. Things like this, it either worked or it didn't. Well, for her at least. She'd never tried finding clothes for Clark before. She didn't think Chloe had either.

"Chloe, haven't you ever given Smallville any tips on this kind of thing?"

A blonde head popped up from behind some clothes, frowning a bit. "I've tried, but the man is opposed to listening. I haven't had any problems with Ryan in our time together, though, so it's just Clark being stubborn."

"Smallville being stubborn? What is the world coming to?" Lois held up another jacket to him, shaking her head as she put it back on the rack. "Ok, this is ridiculous. I've tried like eight jackets and nothing works."

"It's a sign. Leave me and my clothes alone."

"No such thing as signs, Smallville." Lois was about to hold up one last jacket but Clark jumped down from where he was standing.

"I, uh, I have to go. I think I may have left my oven on in my apartment."

"What? Again?"

"Yeah. You know my measurements, so just pick out whatever. See you laterཀ"

Clark jogged out of the store, Lois frowning as he left. "What the hell does he use his oven for so much? It's like he leaves it on ever fourth day just so he can run away randomly. I bet this time he's just using it to get out of this."

Chloe walked over to her, dropping some shirts on the back of a chair. "He likes to cook stuff, Lois. I know that's a foreign concept to you, what with your lack of cooking anything ever, but since he was raised on home cooking he likes to cook... at home."

"As opposed to elsewhere?"

"Shut up."

Lois smiled and sighed. "Well, whatever." She would have continued, but her phone started buzzing in her pocket. Pulling it out, she found that it was a news bulletin about Superman fighting a fire in a high rise. Tossing what she was holding on with Chloe's stuff, she grabbed her purse. "Superman's about five blocks away. You wanna go?"

"Of course. This is a lost cause anyway."

They walked briskly out of the store and onto the sidewalk, making their way through people to try and get into view of everything going on. It didn't take too long to see the smoke in the sky. This only spurred Lois into a jog, much easier since it was a Saturday and she was in jeans and tennis shoes. Chloe jogged beside her and soon they were pushing their way through the crowd, trying to get to the authorities blocking off the building. It didn't take long.

Neck craned, Lois watched smoke emanate through broken windows on the top floor of a building. People still poured from the building, some coughing and some looking like they barely knew what was going on. A blue blur flew out of the building and stopped suddenly, floating above the people and facing the building. Against the seriousness of the situation, Lois felt a smile come to her lips as a gust of wind blew from where Superman was and into the building. Seconds later, the smoke was gone.

Lois started clapping as Superman floated down to earth, all the people around her doing the same. He was quickly down on the ground, walking over to check on people that were with medical people. He always did that, making sure there wasn't anybody that needed to get there at what she called 'Super' speed.

With a nod to the medics, he took a few steps backwards and rose off the ground, giving a nod to the crowd before speeding off into the sky.

Every time she saw him, she felt like a little girl again, clapping for a magician that was doing something that shouldn't be able to happen. He was an extra terrestrial, sent by his parents to Earth so he could survive, and he used his abilities to help people. That wasn't the kind of thing you could just make up in stories. Well, it was, but not anymore.

Shaking off the feelings of awe, Lois looked over at Chloe. "Is it just me, or is that really awesome?"

Chloe looked over at her and nodded. "It's definitely awesome."

As the crowd around them began to disperse, Lois heard somebody calling her's and Chloe's names. Turning, she saw Clark making his way through the crowd, glancing up at the building as he got to them. "I was going back to the clothing store when I saw the smoke, but it was out before I could get here. What happened?"

Lois shrugged. "We don't know. All I know is that there was a fire, we came, watched Superman do his thing, then he left. Got out of here about twenty seconds before you got here, actually. One of these days you're going to have to see the man in action."

Clark smiled tightly. "Yeah, I miss out on all the fun. So, do you want to get some quotes and write this up?"

"Sounds good. Superman was gone before I could ask him for one. Too bad."

An hour later they were all back in the bullpen, Lois and Clark writing up the article while Chloe read off the quotes to them.

"'...and if not for Superman, it could have taken hours to get this fire put out.' I feel like I've heard that before."

Lois looked back at Chloe. "That's because we hear something similar every time he puts out a fire. We're lucky to have him, but sometimes he does make our job a little redundant. Not that I'm complaining in any way. You'll never hear me lament anything he does."

Lois glanced at her cousin and Clark, realizing what she sounded like. Chloe was grinning, as Lois had suspected she would, but Clark was frowning, his brow tight. Odd.

"Anyway, yeah, glad to have him." Lois finished off the article and sent it in before leaning back in her chair. "Well, that's that. Shall we get back to dressing you, Clark?"

"No."

"Sounds like fun, cuz. I'm in."

"No."

"Come on, Clarkie. Be our life-sized doll."

"No."

"You know you're going to do it. You haven't said no to me since high school."

"No.

"Poor Smallville. He never stood a chance against us, Chloe. He can't deny us anything."

"No."

"Poor guy. At least he'll look good after this."

"Why don't I have friends that are guys?"

"Because they wouldn't be nearly as interesting as we are. Now come on. If I have any say in things, you'll be irresistible to all women by the end of the day. Besides me and Chloe, of course."

"Great."

--

"You should tell her, Clark."

Sighing, Clark rested his face in his hands for a second before pulling them away. "Mom, we've been over this, what, three dozen times? Telling Lois that I'm Superman can't accomplish anything besides hurting her. I don't want to hurt her. Doing so would probably result in a severe decline in our time together, and I like the time I get with Lois. It's not something I want to see decrease."

"If you would tell her, or at least ask her out on a date, you might just get more."

Clark laughed mirthlessly, rolling his shoulders a bit as he stood up from his spot on the porch swing. Walking forward and resting his hands on the railing, he watched as the sun slowly set over the farm. "Asking her out on a date would accomplish nothing but making things awkward, mom. She's barely dated since Superman showed up. She's got a one track mind."

She walked up next to him, placing a hand on top of his as she looked out over the farm with him. "All the more reason to tell her. I think by now she's earned the right to know. She's one of your closest friends."

"I know, I know. But I feel at this point telling her would be perceived as me just trying to make myself look better in her eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Clark Kent isn't anything to her but a partner to work with and is hopelessly in love with her. Lois is hopelessly in love with Superman. Both seem to be popular knowledge at work, and Lois is painfully oblivious to the first. If I tell her, what can I expect her to do? She'll always see Superman from then on, and not Clark Kent. If she still wants to be with Superman, she'll want it in spite of Clark Kent."

"I don't think you're giving Lois enough credit, Clark. She's a smart woman, and she'll see that Clark Kent is who you are while Superman is what you do. Take the risk, Clark. These things have a tendency to work out when it comes to love."

"And there we are again," Clark said. "She doesn't love Clark Kent, she loves what Clark Kent does."

--

"Bleh."

"Bleh?"

"Very much bleh. Why did you let me do this?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her. "When have I _let _you do anything? You do what you want to do when you want to do it. It's kind of a Lois Lane trademark in this crazy world we live in."

Shaking her head, Lois wiped the goo that was supposed to be cheese off her finger and grabbed some oven mitts, slipping them on and taking the pan of ruined nachos over to her trash can and dropping it in. Tossing the over mitts on the counter, she grabbed her phone and tossed it to Chloe. "Pizza?"

Chloe smiled and nodded. "A thousand times yes, and a thousand times thank you for ruining what you cooked before I had to have any of it and be sick all night."

"Oh, very funny."

"You think I'm joking?"

Lois frowned at her as there was a knock on the door. She pointed at Chloe. "Get to dialing. I'll get the door."

Walking over, Lois wiped her hands off one last time before opening the door, where she found Clark standing before her, looking antsy of all things. "Smallville. To what do we owe the pleasure?" She stepped out of the way, waving him inside. He took a few steps in and she closed the door. Turning, she found him standing there, staring at her. "Something you want? Something you need to say?"

"I'm Superman."

Lois frowned, scratching at her arm. "What?"

"Superman. I'm him. He's me. Well, he's what I do, anyway."

Staring at him a second, Lois let herself slouch a little as she scrutinized him. He didn't look like he'd been doing drugs. Granted, there was rarely strong visual evidence of that. He was still kind of antsy. Shaking her head, she shrugged. "Yeah, ok Smallville. That must make me Wonder Woman. Come on in, have a seat. Chloe's ordering pizza. I'll lasso up some drinks."

Grinning at her pun, Lois walked past Chloe and into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water for Clark and the bottle of wine for she and Chloe, along with a couple glasses. Walking back into the living room as Chloe hung up, she put everything down on the coffee table. "Thirty-nine bucks total. Thirteen each. Not bad."

"Not bad at all," Lois said. "So, get this. Smallville walks in, I turn around from closing the door, and he says that he's Superman." She looked over at Clark, who was looking at Chloe. "It's why he gets water instead of wine with his pizza. Methinks somebody here got an early start to the drinking."

Lois set herself to the task of uncorking the wine, quickly doing so and pouring herself a glass. She held out the bottle towards Chloe, expecting it to get taken. When she was still holding it a moment later, Lois looked over at her to find she was staring wide eyed at Clark, looking incredulous. Frowning, Lois looked at Clark, who was looking at Chloe with wide eyes, though he wasn't looking incredulous.

"I think I missed something here. Anybody want to verbalize the non-verbals so I can be part of the conversation?"

"Yeah, I want to verbalize something," Chloe said. "THAT'S how you tell her? You walk in and say 'I'm Superman.' and that's it?"

"Do you know of a good way to preface news like that? Plus, you know how much I've wrestled with this, how much I've tried to figure out what to do. You were no help in that, by the way."

"I wasn't trying to helpཀ I thought she should be in on things so you could quit making stupid excuses months ago, not to mention for other reasons."

"Hold itཀ" Lois watched Clark and Chloe cease their argument and look over at her. "Thank you. Now what the hell are you two going on about?"

"We're talking about what Clark told you earlier."

"You mean the joke."

"It was the truth."

"Yeah, it was the poorly planned and thusly blurted out truth. I mean, come on, Clark. There had to have been a better way to do it. You couldn't have taken out to the balcony, maybe had a drink with her first before doing it?"

"I prefer not to get thrown off balconies."

"You can flyཀ"

"Shut upཀ"

Lois looked up and found their attention squarely on her. She pointed at Clark. "You have her," she said as she pointed at Chloe, "convinced that you're Superman?"

"She knew about everything before Superman existed. That's why I was hoping she would understand that telling a person about my powers isn't easy. I don't do it. People seem to keep finding out on their own, except for you, Lois."

"That doesn't mean there isn't a good way to do it. This is something that has to be thought through, with everybody figuring out how to do it. I take it your mom didn't say 'Go in and blurt it out' when she was telling you that you should tell Lois."

"No, but she didn't exactly have a great way to do it either. She told me to do it when it felt right. Well, I didn't know when it was going to feel right, or even if I would know what right would feel like when I felt it, so I made right now." Clark frowned, shaking his head. "You know what I mean."

"QUIETཀ" Lois stood up, eyes wide. "Are you two seriously saying that Clark is Superman?"

"We wouldn't lie to you about this."

Lois leveled a look on her cousin, who smiled sheepishly and shrank back into the couch a bit. She turned to Clark. "You weren't joking earlier."

"No. Had I been, I probably would have laughed at your lasso joke."

Lois ran her hands back through her hair. "Prove it."

She heard Clark sigh, and watched as he stood up and took off his glasses. Suddenly he started spinning, stopping a second later. Gone was Clark Kent; in his place stood Superman, tights and all. She heard Chloe speak as she felt herself incapable of it and kept staring.

"You've never changed into your tights like that before."

"I got the idea from a television show."

Maybe this is what going insane felt like. Clark Kent was Superman. It didn't make any sense. How could the bumbling and stumbling farm boy be the greatest super hero the world has ever known?

"A TV show? Seriously?"

"It wasn't annoying or stupid looking, was it?"

"No, I'm just kinda surprised about where you got the idea from."

Then again, this really did explain a lot of things. First and foremost, Clark never being where Superman was made sense now. She'd always just chocked it up to awful timing. The conservative look he'd adopted since he'd returned from his travels and his blending into a crowd certainly was explainable.

"Well, it was either do the spinning thing or figure out some other way. I could always just disappear from sight for a second, or maybe step into a closet and step out a second later."

"I think that one would be kind of cool. Hard to find a closet on the street, though."

"Yeah, all I need for the spinning is somewhere out of the way. Any alley will do."

"The world's greatest super hero emerging from an alley to save the day. People are going to think you're homeless or something."

Glasses. She was fooled by _glasses_. His disguise was being a clumsy, quieter version of himself. How stupid was she? How stupid was everybody?

"People are not going to think I'm homeless. If anything I'll be coming from my apartment and the roof of the Planet more than alleys. I wonder if that kind of thing can be tracked."

"Too late to worry about that now."

"Heyཀ Why are you two carrying on like I'm not even here?"

Chloe answered first. "Your face kinda went blank while everything you knew about Superman and Clark Kent exploded and coagulated into one big ball of information."

Lois eyed Chloe for a second. "Interesting way of putting it. Not far from the truth."

"Yeah, I know."

Let her eyes slide over, she looked at Clark... Superman... whoever. "You... _you_... oh..." Lois felt her voice trail off into what sounded like a growl, which she made herself stop doing. "I've been drooling over him... _you_... for almost a year now. I've been about half a step short of throwing myself at him..._ you_... dozens of times."

Very quickly Clark did the spinning thing again then stopped, standing there in jeans and a plain blue t-shirt, but his glasses nowhere in sight. "I'm sorry. I never wanted things to end up the way they did, but you looked at him so much differently than you did me, and I got addicted to it."

"But you ARE him."

"Superman is how I protect people and keep my anonymity, Lois. I've always been Clark Kent."

"Fine, then Superman is a persona you affected. He's still basically you, though, right? He's a more confident version of the Clark Kent everybody knows and loves."

"I guess? I've never really thought about it."

"Well then I think now's a good time to startཀ You know why? Lemme tell ya. I told Superman some things that I never wanted Clark Kent to know. I told Superman things that I never thought anybody but Superman and I would know. But you're Superman, so you know too, despite the fact that he's just something you do. Thus, this raises the question, where does Superman end and Clark Kent begin?"

"Lois..."

She raised a hand at her cousin. "No, I get to do this. I think I'm entitled to this."

"She's right, Chloe." Clark pulled his glasses out of his jeans pocket and slid them on his face, pushing them up on his nose in an all too familiar way. Those didn't work on her anymore. "I lied to her, after being friends with her for years. I'll listen to whatever she has to say."

"You're damn right you willཀ And don't act like you're standing there of your own free will, Clark. You're here because you know that I will hunt you down if you try and leave. Now, where was I... ah yes. Where does Superman end and Clark Kent begin? When are you just you and when are you not you?"

"I'm always me," he said, "and I'm Superman when I need to be."

"All right, so what is your real personality? Are you really meek? Are you really the guarded but confident man capable of anything? Or is it something in between?"

Clark swallowed, inhaling and exhaling through his nose noisily. "It depends on the situation."

"What about when it's just you? Or, say, just you and your mom? Maybe just you and Chloe?"

Clark stood silently for a moment before crossing his arms over his chest. "Something in between."

"How about when it's just you and me? How often are you yourself then?"

"When we're bantering, I'm never more myself."

Lois didn't stop to think about what he'd said. "So how often would you say you're really you? Ten percent of the time? Twenty?"

"I don't know."

"And therein lies the problem. When you don't know how often you're yourself, I don't know how often I want to be around you. I've only ever wanted to know _you_, not the you that you show everyone else. You didn't have to be quiet and clumsy around me. You didn't have to be stoic and confident around me. You could have just been yourself. But when you don't even know how often you're yourself... well, that makes it hard for me to want to know you."

Lois walked up to him, crossing her arms over her chest in much the same way he had and looked him in the eye. "So here's how this is going to work. Until I figure out how I feel about the amalgam of all these versions of you, we won't speak in a manner beyond professionally, be it as partners or you helping me out of a situation. Hell, I don't know if I'llwant to talk to you until YOU figure out who the hell you are."

There was a knock at the door, and Lois decided it was an opportunity to end the tense situation she found herself in. "That would be the pizza. When I come back from paying for it, it would be best for you to be elsewhere."

Turning on her heel, Lois walked away from him to the front door. After paying for the pizza she walked back in, finding Chloe standing where she'd been and Clark nowhere to be seen. Handing Chloe the top pizza, she sat down on the couch and turned on the television.

"Lois, do you want to talk about what just happened?"

"Am I talking?"

"No, but..."

"Then I'd say I don't want to talk about it. Have a seat and watch with me." Lois nodded at the spot next to her, and Chloe sat down. She felt her cousin's eyes on her but ignored them, losing herself in the television show so that she wouldn't have to think about just how confused and hurt she was.


	2. Chapter 2

-- Chapter 2

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Clark mumbled and his smacked himself on the forehead with each utterance of the word stupid. "Why couldn't I have just stayed shut up instead of opening my mouth and blurting out the fact that I have a side Lois didn't know about? It would have been very easy and I was already very good at it."

Leaning back in his chair, Clark glanced over at Chloe, who he saw was watching Lois walk back into the news room. Swallowing what little saliva he had in his mouth, he sat forward and waited patiently as Lois made her way towards them, never so much as looking up from what she was engrossed in. He didn't think he'd be able to do what she did, especially when she sat down without taking her eyes off whatever she was reading.

Taking a breath to speak, the words he'd been planning to say died before they got said and he closed his mouth. Four work days in, Lois was sticking to the fact that she wasn't going to speak to him in any manner that didn't have something to do with their work. Of course, Lois being Lois, she'd said all of ten words a day to him, and most had consisted of her asking him to pass something to her.

Looking at his computer, Clark tried to focus on what he should have been focusing on for most of the morning. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to keep his attention on what had been assigned and therefore made doing his job a whole hell of a lot more difficult. Rubbing at the bridge of his nose, Clark pushed his glasses up and blinked a few times before setting his mind back to the task at hand.

"So this is how you two are going to work now?"

Well, perfect. As soon as he'd gotten focused, Chloe decided to say something. Perry was going to skewer him. "Chloe, if this is how Lois wants things to be, it's how things are going to be."

"What, you're just going to accept this tense and ridiculous new thing between you two? How about you try straightening things out, Clark? Maybe try talking to her? I know it seems like a bad idea to fight for your friendship but if you don't, the friendship is going to die a long, slow death."

"If Lois wanted me to fight for it, then have no doubt that I would fight for it. She's made it perfectly clear through her silence that what she wants is for me to leave her alone so she can be mad at me. You know what? She earned the right."

Chloe got up out of her desk chair and walked over to him, leaning against his desk but not looking at him. He looked at Lois a second, and saw that she didn't appear to care one way or another about what they were talking about.

"She may have earned the right to be angry, but apparently that means that she is going to take things to ridiculous proportions. You know how you get back into her good graces? Argue with her. Make her angry about something else for a little while."

Clark frowned at Chloe. "Argue with her? How the hell am I supposed to get into an argument with her when she won't talk to me about anything beyond what we do professionally."

"Get in an argument about something professional thenཀ It's not like you two agree on everything. Hell, you rarely agree on anything, and that hasn't changed just because Lois is giving you the cold shoulder."

"Fine, what she would argue about then?"

"How about the fact that you're just as good a reporter as she is."

"Haཀ"

Clark looked over at Lois, who was still reading something but had obviously heard what Chloe said. "I'm not sure that I'm inclined to disagree with her statement of 'Ha,' Chloe. I like to think that I'm good at what I do, but there's a reason Lois is world renowned and I'm known for being the renowned Lois Lane's partner."

All of a sudden Lois stood up, pulling her bag out of the desk and stuffing the papers into it. She looked over at Chloe. "Chlo, you want to get lunch?"

Chloe turned her head and looked at him. He nodded and waved for her to go with Lois, releasing a sigh as Chloe stood. "Yeah, all right Lo. Where do you want to go?"

Clark watched as they made their way to the elevator, getting in a moment later before the doors shut on them.. Shaking his head, he tried putting everything out of his mind so that he could actually get done what Perry had asked of him.

--

"How long are you going to keep doing this to Clark?"

Lois scratched her back for a second, considering what Chloe said. "I'm not doing anything to him, Chloe. This is how things are now. This is how they'll stay. I understand him not telling me, and hey, I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is his using of his alter ego to listen to me talk about things I never would have told Clark Kent."

The elevator doors opened and they walked out, making their way through the lobby of the building and out onto the sidewalk. Glancing up at the sky, Lois pulled sunglasses out of her purse and slid them onto her face so she wasn't blinded by every glint off the gleaming buildings. They walked in silence for a couple minutes, and Lois had no idea where they were going, despite the fact she'd asked Chloe to lunch, until they got to a little Italian café and Chloe stopped.

Once seated, Chloe decided she wanted to talk about things more. "What was he supposed to do, Lois? Never talk to you as you-know-who? Just save you and fly off without listening to a word you say, or at least not responding?"

Lois buried her face in the menu, really not wanting to talk about this any further. It didn't make her any less angry about the whole thing to talk about it. In fact, she felt herself get more angry about it every time she thought about it, and talking was no different. "Chloe, I understand you want to patch things up between Clark and I, but everything is sufficiently patched. We're partners at work who don't talk outside of work. That's it. The end."

"The end? No, not the end. You saying the end does not make it the end."

"It's the end of me talking about it. Again."

"Fine, then you'll listen as I talk about it." Lois sighed, but Chloe kept talking. "Clark wanted to tell you. Do you know how many times I told him that he SHOULD tell you? He was afraid of this very thing though. He was afraid that if he told you, he would lose your friendship. I tried telling him that you wouldn't throw away a friendship because he had some huge secret he'd been afraid to tell you, but apparently he knows you better than I do.

"I understand you being angry. Hell, I encourage you to feel whatever you want to feel. But you seem to think that Clark did this to you on purpose. I know you won't say it, but you're angry that you opened up to Clark when you thought that you were opening up to Superman. Uh oh, now Clark knows things that you didn't think he should knowཀ Whatever will you do now that one of your closest friends knows you even better?"

"It's not about that, Chloe," Lois said through gritted teeth. "I don't know who he is anymore. He's got all these versions of himself and now I don't know who I'm talking to at any given timeཀ Is it Clark? Is it meek Clark that stumbles and bumps into things? Is it the confident Clark that the world sees every time he does something noble? I'm never going to know from one minute to another, so I'm just not going to bother with it anymore."

"That's it? Game over for the Lois and Clark friendship?"

"Pretty much sums things up. Now, are we going to eat or do you have more to say on this nothing short of infuriating topic?"

"Fine. One last thing, though. Don't try to make me take a side. If you continue down this road I'm fairly certain that you two won't be partners much longer. If that's the case, I'm not going to reduce my time as Clark's friend just because you've chosen to be angry and don't want to be around him anymore."

Lois lowered her menu, looking at Chloe over the top of it. "Whatever. I don't care. Let's just eat, though for the first time in recent memory I really don't have much of an appetite."

"You loved him, Lois."

"I loved what he does, not who he is."

--

"Lane! Kent!"

Hearing Perry yell for them, Clark got up out of his chair and followed Lois towards his office. He closed the door after they were inside, but didn't sit down next to her, instead choosing to stay standing up while shoving his hands into his pockets.

"What's wrong with you two?"

"What do you mean, Chief?"

"Don't call me Chief, Lane. And what I mean is that I haven't had to interrupt you two talking about some random, has nothing to do with work topic all week. It has me concerned. What's going on between you two? All the unresolved sexual tension has turned into regular old tension, and I don't need tension. My blood pressure is bad enough."

"_Unresolved sexual tension_?" Clark looked over at Lois, sighing as she sounded like just saying the words put a bad taste in her mouth. "There was no sexual tension of any kind between Clark and I. I don't know about him, but I've never had a sexual thought about my partner."

Ouch. Was his pride bleeding? It certainly felt as if it should be, the way she had just taken it, thrown it down and stabbed it in the gut. "I don't think about Lois that way, Perry. She's a friend, nothing more." Hopefully she would just be a friend again.

"Is that so? Because you two are acting like you slept together and it sucked, or you slept together and one of you wants more from things than the other does. I've seen it happen a dozen times over the years and I would really prefer that you two don't ruin a great partnership."

"Chief, there has been no sex."

"Yeah, Perry, we don't have that kind of relationship."

"Fine," Perry said, "but since you two aren't relieving stress on the side, I would prefer you work out your issues soon. It's not affecting your work _yet_, but if it does we're going to have some serious problems. Now, are you going to be able to sort things out or should I just go ahead and make your current assignment the last of Lane and Kent?"

"That's up to you, Chief. I have no problem working with Clark. He's a good journalist."

Clark sighed, noticing that Perry was switching between staring at him and Lois. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, Clark wishing Perry would let them go. He didn't know if he was trying to make them uncomfortable or what, but as far as he could tell it wasn't affecting Lois at all. He did his best to look unaffected too, though he wasn't sure how successful he was. Finally, Perry spoke again.

"I setup an interview for you two tomorrow afternoon with a scientist at STAR Labs. His name is Dr. Jayne and he claims to have made some giant steps in the area of time travel. I want you two to check it out."

"Time travel, Chief? Seriously?"

"Lane, we live in a city that's protected by an extra terrestrial that looks human but has the powers that most little boys dream of having. I'd be remiss to discount just about anything anymore."

"Fine, whatever. Don't blame us when there's no story there." Lois got up and walked out of the office, leaving Clark standing there with Perry.

"The hell did you do to her, Kent?"

Clark pursed his lips for a second before answering. "I told her something that she didn't want to hear, but didn't know that she didn't want to hear it."

"That's... strange."

"I know. Living it didn't make it any less so, either." Not having anything else to say, Clark shrugged and walked out of the office, making his way back to his desk. Just as he was about to sit down he heard a call for help. Straightening back up, he ran a hand through his hair before making a decision.

"Lois, I have to go."

"All right." She hadn't bothered to look up while professing her disinterest.

"I'll probably see you in a few minutes."

Lois finally looked up at him. "What? Why?"

Clark made a motion with his hand, hoping she got the reference. "Just, I'll see you later." Her eyes widened a little bit in comprehension and Clark took off jogging through the news room. He'd stupidly wasted valuable seconds trying to get her to understand. He hated that she made him so mindful of those things, but knew that he wouldn't trade it for anything get her to understand.

--

Watching Clark jog out of the room, Lois realized that it was the first time that he'd pointed out to her that he was leaving to go do something as Superman. Considering how she considered things between them, it wasn't surprising that he hadn't bothered to point it out before this. It was interesting to know that in the next couple minutes she'd hear reports about Superman being somewhere and she'd probably be sent to cover it, this time knowing where he'd come from. She'd always wondered that.

It didn't make her feel any better about Clark, though.

Putting her coworker out of her mind, Lois went back to looking up facts about Dr. Jayne so that they could be properly prepared for their interview with him tomorrow. If nothing else, his profile was an interesting read. Graduated MIT with a physics degree at the age of 19, had his doctorate in theoretical physics from Caltech at 21 and had been working at STAR Labs ever since. Apparently the guy liked tech schools and was ridiculously smart, though that should have been apparent from the fact that he worked at STAR Labs.

Glancing over as her phone started buzzing on top of her desk, Lois grabbed it and checked the message, finding that Superman was currently helping a sinking ship into harbor.

"Lane! Kent!"

Standing up, Lois had a good idea of what Perry was going to say. Of course, Clark had given her the added bonus of having to lie for him when Perry asked where he was. She no longer had the flimsy excuses he'd always given her to fall back on.

Walking over to Perry, she stopped a few steps short of him. "What's up, Perry?"

"Superman is bringing a ship into harbor that was in the process of sinking. You and Kent head down there." She saw him look around the room a second. "Where's Kent gotten to this time?"

"Uh, just had some errands to run while things were quiet."

"Great. Next time you talk to him, tell him not to do it during working hours unless it's during his lunch."

Los sighed as Perry retreated back into his office, turning and heading back towards her desk so as to get her stuff and make her way to the docks.

Half an hour later Lois was getting out of a taxi and pushing through a crowd as a large ship slowly descended from where it was hovering in the air down into the water. Smiling as people started getting off the ship and onto the safety of solid ground, Lois pulled out her digital recorder and started getting quotes about what exactly had happened to necessitate the Superman intervention.

When everybody around her started cheering, she let her gaze slide up to a dripping Superman as he descended and talked to some of the ship's officials. Shaking her head at what once would have been a longing gaze she fixed on him, Lois saw the situation with new eyes. Instead of the Superman she'd always seen, it was now Clark standing there and making sure that everybody got off the ship ok. It did not amuse her.

She'd liked her image of Superman, damn it! Now it was ruined because Clark had just HAD to blurt out the truth and let her ignorance die. Sure, she'd been infatuated with him, but it wasn't losing that that pained her so much. No, it was losing the fact that there had been an unnamed do-gooder out there that cared for the not just the city, but the whole world so much that he gave up all his free time to protect it.

That hadn't really changed, but now instead of a nameless do-gooder it was _Clark_, the same guy that had once been a pain in her ass so big that she'd wanted to throw him far, far away. She thought that he'd changed, and while she hadn't been on board with the meek Clark that she'd seen everyday, at least he hadn't been a pain in the ass with a hero complex so much as a friendly pain in the ass that had lost a hero complex. Now? Back to just being a pain in the ass with a hero complex that she could live without, even if he was the greatest super hero in the world. Jackass.

--

Clark cinched up his tie as he walked through the people still around the officials that had been on the ship. Feeling his hair, he smiled to himself a bit as he noticed that it was dry. Chloe had taken to calling it his spin dry when he'd started using it to change from street clothes into his tights. Multifaceted powers were always nice.

Spotting Lois talking to the ship's captain, Clark made his way over to them. Pulling the small notepad and pencil he always kept in his jacket pocket out, Clark saw that Lois had a recorder on the guy, but started taking notes as he always did just in case and to save her some time of transcribing those notes. She generally appreciated that, and he hoped that at least _that_ hadn't changed.

A couple minutes after he'd gotten there the captain walked away and Lois turned around. With her head still down, she walked into him, and he caught her before she could fall over. Getting her upright, he looked into her eyes but didn't see anything resembling the playful annoyance he probably would have seen just a week ago. Now it was just annoyance.

"Good job of sneaking up on me, Clark."

"Sorry. I didn't know if you had heard me or not. Plus, you could have looked up before you started walking."

"Yeah, well, at least now I know why walking into you is like walking into a brick wall. Did you write down what the captain was saying?"

He held up his notepad and gave her a tight smile. "Yeah, just like always."

"Good. Good job with the ship, by the way."

"Uh, thanks." Did that count as speaking professionally? He was going to have to get her to tell him what exactly counted as professional and non-professional when it came to Superman.

"You're welcome. Let's go back to the Planet and get this in to Perry."

Half an hour of a silent cab ride later, Clark followed Lois into the news room as they made their way to their desks. Lois sat down and dropped her bag in her desk, and Clark made his way around to his chair.

"I told Perry that you were running an errand when he called for us about the ship. I'd appreciate if you didn't make me have to cover for you from now on. "

Clark rubbed at the spot where his shoulder met his neck, trying to relieve some of the tension that had just appeared there. Unfortunately, his frustration with the situation got the best of him. "Sorry. From now on I'll try not to hear any cries for help when Chloe isn't around."

"_What_?"

Clark looked up, realizing what he'd said. Either he could apologize, or he could argue with her. Well, Chloe had said earlier that arguing would be his best chance of getting back in with her. "Would you prefer that I lie to you and tell you that I left my oven on? Have a dentist appointment? Is it too inconvenient for you to make up a little excuse to tell Perry while I go help people?"

Lois looked at him with almost predatory eyes. "I am NOT going to let you pick a fight with me, Clark. Make your own excuses or have Chloe do it for you. Why she's put up with it for so long, I don't know, but she seems to enjoy covering for you."

"She doesn't enjoy it Lois. She complains about Perry griping about it whenever she has to cover for me while you're out getting the story on Superman. She does it, though, because she knows that it helps things in the big picture."

"Well I'm so sorry if I don't want to fall in line, Clark, but it's not my responsibility to keep your identity safeཀ"

Clark's eyes went wide as Lois finished yelling, her reply drawing eyes from all over the room. She seethed for a moment before she appeared to realize what she'd yelled and looked around the room, seeing everybody looking at them.

"You people got nothing better to do than stare? Mind your own businessཀ"

"We would, but if you yell like that then you're kind of making it everybody's business." Clark looked over and spotted Chloe walking over to them. When she got there she kept going, pointing at an empty conference room. He followed, as did Lois, and the three of them were soon enclosed in a room where they could hash this out. Chloe raised an eyebrow at Lois. "_Fall in line_?"

He saw Lois wince and immediately look apologetic. "Look, I didn't mean it like that; I just wanted to say..."

She stopped when Chloe held up a hand. "Whatever. It doesn't matter what you meant, though I won't deny that had I heard what preceded that line I might have been hurt. What matters is what was said, and seeing as how you just blurted out 'It's not my responsibility to keep your identity safe' I'm thinking Clark tried the arguing thing I told him to take up. Of course, I hadn't meant for him to do it in public, but I guess I should have been more specific."

Chloe shook her head and glared at them both before speaking. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" She looked over at him. "You tell her that you're Superman like you do and what do you expect? You know this isn't news that you tell somebody and they just accept it. It takes time, despite the fact that it does cause a few things about you make sense. Don't dump something like covering for you on her and expect her to just 'fall in line,' to use her words. It's Lois; she's never fallen in line with anything in her life, so she sure as hell isn't going to start now, especially when she is as pissed off at you as she has been at anybody in her life.

"And you," Chloe continued as she turned to Lois, "are going to have to reconcile with the fact that your dream man, or in this case dream intergalactic traveler, turned out to be a farm boy that once upon a time had a love affair with plaid shirts. Be angry about it, be hurt by it, but don't throw away a great friendship with an amazing guy because he kept a secret that screws with everything you thought you knew about him and his alter ego. You're going to hate yourself for a long time if you lose somebody that cares about you as much as he does, more than he should, really. Yes, you're the woman he likes. I'm tempted to say loves, just to ratchet up the tension."

He loved her? No, that could wait. "Well... but... I am not angry that my dream man turned out to be Clark, Chloe! He wasn't even my dream man!" Clark sighed and deflated a little, but he heard Chloe scoff before Lois went on. "I knew I never had a chance with Superman, but him turning out to be Clark sucks because I don't know who he is now!"

"You're going to say that? Really? Is that why you're not willing to help Clark just a little bit by telling Perry something so that he can go off, be Superman and save lives? Because you don't _know him_ anymore? Or is this just you being unbelievably self-involved while you come to terms with things? Newsflash Lois: this is bigger than you being angry. Be a grownup and help out with something that _saves lives_. You know that if it hadn't been Clark with the secret identity, but somebody you didn't know or had only met in passing you'd have no problem covering."

Chloe sighed loudly, closing her eyes a moment before glancing at each of them. Clark didn't meet her eyes. "I swear to every god that may possibly exist, if I have to do this again I will not be held accountable for my actions and no judge in the free world will make me stand trial. Now, are you two going to be able to function as adults?"

Clark nodded and looked over at Lois, who was also nodding. "Good. Glad to hear it, or at least see you nod. Now how about you go type up the story about the story about the formerly sinking ship?"

Clark held the door open as Lois and Chloe walked out of the conference room. Chloe went to her own desk to do her work, leaving them to work in an extremely uncomfortable silence. Clark figured it was a testament to just how much Lois didn't want to talk to him that she didn't say something to break the tension. It was palpable.

When they were done with the piece, Lois left for the day, saying that she was going to work from home on the background stuff for their interview with Dr. Jayne. Chloe wasn't around much longer, getting sent out on assignment by Perry, leaving Clark sitting there alone. Well, at least he wouldn't have to ask Lois to cover for him when something inevitably came up.

--

Walking through the entrance to STAR Labs, Lois walked up to the front desk, not bothering to flash a smile at the guard letting them into the rest of the building. She'd had a day to ruminate and still couldn't believe Perry was making them interview a man claiming to have created a machine capable of time travel. Yes, they lived in a world with a super hero alien that happened to be her partner, but that didn't mean there weren't limits as to what could happen.

As she walked through the hallway, her heels clicking against the floor, she could barely hear Clark's steps as he followed her to the elevator. He hadn't said much to her all day, which was fine by her. She had nothing to say to him, not after the way they had blown up the day before. Of course, then Chloe had verbally bitch slapped both of them in the conference room, and it had made things even more awkward. She really didn't like being on that end of a verbal bitch slap.

Running a hand through her hair as she walked into the elevator, Lois turned as the doors closed and watched as floors flew by until they got where they were going. Walking out, she quickly found the lab that they were looking for and knocked on the door a couple times before walking in.

"Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Miss Lane! Mr. Kent!" A man walked into her line of sight from her left, grinning wildly as he offered a hand out to shake hands with her and Clark. "I'm so glad that I was able to convince your editor to send you down here. This is... well, I made it workཀ They said it couldn't be done because of the energy requirements, but _I_ did it."

Lois nodded absentmindedly. "Well that's why we're here, Dr. Jayne. How about we get this demonstration going?"

The man nodded, motioning for them to follow as he walked back into the lab, making his way around piles of stuff that lay strewn about. Lois couldn't imagine what some of the stuff might have been, had it ever been anything.

Dr. Jayne stopped suddenly, grabbing something off the table and looking at it a moment before tossing it back and continuing on. When they finally got to the back of the lab, the doctor pointed at two large metal pillars, grinning wildly once more. "Here it is."

Pulling her recorded out of her bag, Lois hit the record button before speaking. "Dr. Jayne, how exactly does your time machine work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?"

Never having had much luck with sciences of that nature, Lois shook her head, but apparently Clark knew something. "The basic principle of wormholes is that they take two points and create the shortest distance, a straight line, between them. The name literally comes from the example of a worm boring through an apple to get from one side to the other instead of going around the outside."

"Correctཀ Rudimentary, yes, but as you said that is the basic principle of it. Taking years of data and research, I studied them until I went cross-eyed. From that, though, I figured out how exactly to create one without draining the world of its power reserves."

"And how exactly can you do that?" Lois asked.

"Dark energy."

Lois frowned, having heard the term before but not being entirely familiar with it. Once again, Clark picked up the slack. "Dark energy? You actually figured out a way to harness it?"

"Yes, and I was as shocked as you were when it worked. Needless to say that this has the potential to solve all energy problems in the world, though I'm not entirely certain how safe harnessing it is yet. No ill effects on me, though, so it appears to be good."

Now THIS was a story. A man had figured out how to solve the world's energy problems, but instead of making that public he was trying to time travel. She didn't want to cut to the quick on the issue of time travel, but for her it paled in comparison to the relative value on a global scale. Not to mention that Dr. Jayne was going to be an insanely rich man. Maybe he was one of those scientists that didn't care about money.

"All right, Dr. Jayne, why don't you fire this sucker up so we can see it in action."

"Yes, good idea. Best to get to the nitty gritty."

Clark rocked back and forth on his heels, waiting for the doctor to finally fire up his time travel wormhole. Glancing over at Lois, he saw her watch the man as he typed something into the computer, as he had been doing for an hour, chin resting on palm as her eyes drooped a little. She hadn't had as much coffee as usual during the morning, so he wasn't surprised that she was tired now.

Hearing a slight whir, Clark looked over to the twin metal pillars that the doctor had pointed at earlier and saw the faintest glow start illuminating the area. Shaking himself a little bit to make sure that he was aware, he took a few steps and nudged Lois slightly to make sure that she was aware things were actually starting.

"What year would you two like to go to?"

Clark eyed the doctor a moment before looking over at Lois. "You decide."

She raised an eyebrow as she stared at the increasing glow of the pillars and area around them. "1990," she told Dr. Jayne.

Clark looked at her again. "Any particular reason?"

"Quarter of a century seemed as good an option as any."

Shrugging, Clark was about to say something when suddenly there was a loud crack and a burst of bright light. Shielding his eyes, Clark's mouth fell open as he spotted a swirling vortex of light between the two pillars. He had not expected that.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lois put her sunglasses on before she got up and walked over to stand next to Dr. Jayne. "I know this is probably a stupid question, but how exactly is one supposed to get back from the past without this giant wormhole generator thingy?"

"Well, this is version one. It's more impressive, so I like to use it." The doctor picked up a backpack from an adjacent desk and handed it to Lois. "This can do the same thing. It's how I got back from traveling to the year 1982. It's got an advanced chronometer in it that detects change in time, and is designed to bring the traveler back from whence he came exactly three seconds after disappearing into the past

"Wait, you traveled in time? To 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I was nostalgic. Now it's your turn." With surprising speed the doctor pushed Lois toward the swirling light, and with a crack she disappeared. He turned and faced Clark. "I apologize for that. I just wanted to make sure that you tried it, that's all, and Miss Lane seemed hesitant. One has to do whatever he can to make sure his work is seen." He nodded towards the vortex. "I suggest you go after her. It can be overwhelming to be all alone in the past."

Staring at Dr. Jayne a moment, Clark ran and jumped into the light.

--

Pulling herself up off the ground, Lois looked around the empty room she now found herself in. Why did this kind of thing always seem to happen to her?

With a loud crack, Clark suddenly fell out of thin air and barreled into her, knocking them both to the ground. Shaking her head a couple times as she regained her senses, Lois really wished that Clark had stayed wherever and just waited or her to come back instead of going after her. No, it would have been going against his very nature to let her get herself back without him throwing himself into the swirling light.

"Clark, why did you follow me?"

She watched as he dusted his pants off and offered a hand to help her up. She ignored it, pulling herself up off the floor again. "I thought you might want some help, just in case that thing doesn't work as easily as the doctor said it does."

"Brilliant. Instead of just me potentially being trapped in the past, if that's really where we are, you decide to do the same to yourself."

"Yes, let me apologize for being worried about you Lois. How about you complain less and we figure out if we are, in fact, in 1990."

Glaring at him for a second, Lois hoisted the backpack up onto her shoulders and walked out of the empty lab. She found that they were still in STAR Labs, though it did look different. Making her way through the not unfamiliar halls, they were soon out of the building and making their way towards the city. Unfortunately, they were doing it on foot because Clark had pointed out that their currency wasn't exactly current.

Spotting a Daily Planet newspaper dispenser on a corner, Lois let loose a sigh of relief so they could determine what the day and year was without coming off as crazies. It probably wouldn't have gone over well when they asked somebody what the year was. Dropping in a quarter, she opened the machine and pulled out a paper, eyes heading straight for the date.

April 24, 1990.

"F-cking hell," she muttered as she handed the paper to Clark. "The doctor actually did it."


	3. Chapter 3

-- Chapter 3

Crossing her arms underneath her breasts, Lois took in a deep breath and released it in turn, trying to come to terms with the fact that she'd been sent to 1990. She was just lucky that she'd picked sometime in relative memory so that they didn't stand out in a crowd, aside from the fact that her hair wasn't big and they had nothing neon on their persons.

On the upside, maybe they could catch a Whitesnake show on the off chance they would be in town. Were they on a break from touring at this point in the year yet?

Yeah, that was smart. Get thrown back in time by a scientist and wonder if your favorite band was touring at this point of the year or not. Had she lost all her senses on the way back here or something?

"Why would the doctor push me into the wormhole?"

"He actually apologized for doing it before I jumped into the wormhole. He thought you were hesitant to go through, and just wanted his work verified by a third party."

"So you don't think it's something nefarious just because he says he's sorry? These things that happen to me, to us this time around, tend to have nefarious intent involved somehow."

"I think he's just a scientist that wants to convince us, Lois."

Looking back at Clark, she saw that he was still looking at the paper and frowned. What could possibly be that entertaining? What had happened in late April of '90? "Are you reading that, Clark?"

"Yeah, I figure it'll be good to know what's going on in the world."

"So, what? You want to sit down for an hour or two so you can read everything?"

A second passed before he answered. "Just did."

"What?" Then it dawned on her that he could probably do things other than run and fly in super speed. It certainly explained why he could type things up so quickly. "Oh."

He stepped up beside her, holding out the paper to her. She didn't take it, and she figured he got the point a moment later when it was withdrawn. "Are you really going to get pissed off about the fact that I just read the paper? I mean, we're in 1990ཀ Don't you want to have a look around before we go back?"

"That's assuming the quack actually put a return trip in this backpack," Lois said. Her eyes not wavering from the city skyline, she realized that she did want to look around. Having not yet turned four at this point in 1990, she didn't remember much about the time. Granted, turning four didn't really make her remember more about the year, but she did remember more about her mom, at least. Biting her lip, her curiosity finally got the best of her. "Fine. Let's have a look around. But we can't change anything."

"Did you think that I was _planning_ on changing something?"

"No, but I at least know enough about time to say that something small happening here could mean something huge being different in the future. Hell, we change something big enough we'll cease to be as we currently exist. It'll create a different time line and the us in 2015 that our change creates won't even know that this version of our lives ever existed unless they take up the study of alternate realities instead of journalism. Hell, we might not even be partners if we screw things up enough, though I have no idea what we could do now to directly impact that."

She heard Clark sigh as he tossed the paper in a garbage can that was next to the Daily Planet paper machine. "Yeah, I know all that. We just have to be careful about things and make sure that we don't stand out."

He stepped into her line of sight and leveled a look on her as he finished his sentence, and Lois frowned. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

"One of us has a tendency to stand out in a crowd. Seeing as how I make a habit of _not_ doing that, we're left with standing out being your thing."

Rolling her eyes, Lois waved a hand up and down at him. "You fly around in tights. That makes you the one of us that tends to stand out more."

"I can choose not to do that. Can you choose not to be who you are for a little while?"

Lois didn't answer, her frown deepening. She looked away from his gaze, locking it back on the city. "Let's go, Clark. We have a good bit of walking before we're in the heart of the city."

"You can still call me Smallville."

She looked back at him, confused. "What?"

"Smallville. That nickname you came up with for me back in, what was it, 2004? A name that annoyed me for a while until I got used to hearing it and found it comfortable? You can still use it."

"Did I stop?"

"You haven't called me Smallville since I told you about being Superman."

She hadn't even realized she'd done that. Was it a bad thing that she was unaware of doing something like that? Being told about that action led her to wonder what else she did that she was unaware of, but she pushed that aside as a thought for when they were back in 2015.

Rubbing at a spot over her eye, she looked at him with one eye. "I didn't know I was doing that, but I'm not surprised. Smallville is something that you may one day earn back, but don't hold your breath, Clark."

"Come on, Lois. Let's work this out."

"What, so we can leave it all in the past, so to speak?"

"Clever," Clark said. "But no. Being your friend is something I really like being. I want us to be us again. I want you to think of me as your friend, or at least try to be in the process of thinking of me as your friend again."

"Do you really want to be my friend again, Clark?"

Clark stared at her a moment with raised eyebrows. "Of course I doཀ What kind of ridiculous question is that?"

"So what about what Chloe said yesterday? She said that the woman you professed to liking, maybe even loving is little ol' me. Is that really true?" Clark swallowed and nodded. "Do you think that me thinking of you as a friend again is going to make it so that you have a chance with me?"

"It's not about that, Lois. Do you really think that I want to be your friend again just so I can try to be more than that? Are you kidding me?"

"How the hell should I know? The Clark Kent I _thought_ I knew never would have done something like not tell me he was Superman while listening to all my secrets. That was the assholiest of all asshole moves I ever could have imagined you doing, and I really couldn't have imagined you doing it before you did it."

"What was I supposed to do, Lois? Save your life but never talk to you? I admit that it was a stupid thing to do, even an asshole move as you say, but I got addicted to the way you looked at me, even if it wasn't _technically_ me you were looking at. Every time you saw Superman there was want in your eyes, longing even. I wanted you to look at me that way, at Clark Kent that way. I just wanted you to notice me once, but you never did. It was always Superman. Do you know how ridiculous it feels to be jealous of yourself?"

"Did you think that one day something was going to change and that I was suddenly going to notice the mild mannered reporter next to me? Do you even know _me_, let alone yourself? When have I ever looked at anybody meek and bumbling in a wanton manner?"

Clark shrugged. "I had just hoped that since you had once professed to going for geeks in glasses..."

"Oh boo-fucking-hooཀ You want to be looked at like that then you be a man and get yourself noticedཀ"

"I don't have that luxuryཀ" Clark took a step towards her. "I get noticed, people put two and two together and suddenly my secret identity is a whole lot less secretཀ If I'm myself all the time odds are that it's going to be a lot easier to see Superman in how I hold myself. When I affect the meek and bumbling, as you put it, nobody looks my way unless I bump into something, and even then they don't look because it's just clumsy Clark being himself. It's not a choice I made because I wanted to, Loisཀ It's a necessityཀ"

"It's always about Superman, isn't it? It goes right back to what I can't figure out: where does Superman end and Clark Kent begin, or vice versa? I wouldn't be so damn angry about everything if I could figure out who you are when I'm talking to youཀ"

"I'm meཀ I'm always meཀ How do you not get that? It's all me, be it meek and bumbling, be it as Superman or just me being me. I am always me. I just have to be different at times so that I can keep doing what I doཀ"

Lois screamed, letting out some frustration. "We're going around in circles!"

"I know, and we're going to keep doing that until you realize that me is me, no matter what I'm wearing or how I'm actingཀ"

"But you're not _you_, you're a version of youཀ There's a difference, whether you want to see it or notཀ"

Clark held up his hands, breathing deeply for a moment before he continued in a much quieter tone than they'd been using. "Are you ever going to come around on this, Lois, or can I expect you to be mad forever?"

"I don't know. If I ever figure it out, I'll let you know." Running a hand through her hair, Lois cracked her neck. "Let's get walking. It'll be a little while before we get into the city."

Clark took a couple steps forward and scooped her up into his arms, and suddenly she felt like she was with Superman. It was a whole lot less comfortable than the comforting gesture it had once been. Granted, she'd never liked to think of herself as being swept off her feet, but when Superman had done it... Exhaling loudly, Lois looked up at the person carrying her. "Clark, what the hell are you doing?"

"Making our trip a good bit shorter."

The world around her turned into a blur for a second before it stopped and she found herself being put down on the ground in a very different spot from where she'd been. That had once been a disorienting speed to travel at; now, she felt she had almost become used to it. "You could have warned me before you did that."

"If I'd have warned you, you probably would have said no so that you didn't have to be in my arms."

Well, he wasn't wrong there. She was just stubborn enough to decline his offer of super speeding them into the city and make them walk all the way. Shaking herself a little, Lois smoothed out her ruffled clothes. Without saying a word, she started walking, making her way towards the street, which she reached just as Clark caught up to her. Looking around, she almost had to shield her eyes. A kid walked by wearing neon yellow pants, which Lois thought was just about the dumbest thing she had ever seen. Pulling out the sunglasses she'd put away just after landing in 1990, she slipped them on again and sighed, looking around.

The city didn't look all that different, really. Some of the buildings that existed in 2015 weren't there, but for the most part the city looked the same. Some of the buildings definitely looked like they gleamed a little more, which was surprising since Metropolis was pretty damn gleaming in the future.

From the location of the buildings, it didn't take Lois long to ascertain their location within the city. Why Clark had chosen here, she didn't know, but it was probably as good a place as any to start. At least they would know their way around.

--

"So, what should we do first?" Clark asked, looking around at the people in the city. It was funny to see what had once passed for acceptable clothing. The next time Lois gave him hell for loving plaid, he was going to point this out as much worse than anything he'd ever worn. Hopefully, one day, she'd give him hell for that again. It was the weirdest thing one missed when having a falling out with a friend like Lois, he figured.

Lois appeared to have ignored what he said until, after a couple minutes silence, she spoke. "I don't know about you, but I need to hit a bathroom in the near future."

Clark nodded. He considered where they were a moment and knew where they should go. "There should still... well, not technically still since this is before and not after... anyway, there should be a place two blocks to the north."

"Talking about McGinty's Grocery?"

Clark looked over at Lois, surprised. "You know about McGinty's?"

"When we lived here when I was young, McGinty's was my mom's favorite place to get groceries. Old Mrs. McGinty always treated her like she was a close friend, and my mom really valued that, even if the price was a little higher there than the big chain stores. Before you ask why I remember that, I don't know. One of those things that always stuck in my mind about my mom. Can't always choose your memories."

"You know, as much as you once complained about Smallville, based on what you just said it seems like a place your mom would have loved to have lived, if for no other reason than the fact that you remember her liking the personal touch of McGinty's. Heck, that's why I use the place, even if it is a little out of the way. Reminds me of home."

"She liked the personal touch, but I don't know that she would have liked the quiet of Smallville. The same thing that drove me nuts probably would have driven her nuts, too. Too bad we'll never know."

With that, Lois started walking, heading in the direction of the store. Clark followed a step behind, watching the people as they went about their daily lives. It felt a little like culture shock, except he hadn't left the city he was a part of. The clothes were just one of the things. His eyes went wide as he watched a man walk by with a phone approximately the size of a shoe held up to his head. Unbelievable.

Then there was the kid with the boombox on his shoulder, listening to what he thought was Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe, walking a few steps ahead of them until he turned into a store. He hadn't heard that song in years; though he'd never exactly been fond of it the rhythm was kind of catchy.

Yeah, like it mattered what song was playing. They were in 1990, of all places.

He didn't remember much about the year. At this point he hadn't even been on earth for a full year. What he did remember was mostly his mom, always fussing over him and telling him she loved him. Same for his dad. Not bad memories, but he wished they were a little clearer. He liked the memories from before he was able to realize just how complicated his life was.

Stopping to wait for traffic, Clark looked over at Lois, deciding that even if she didn't want to talk like friends did, he was going to anyway. Couldn't possibly make things worse if he tried to mend fences. "Six months."

She glanced over at him before looking back at the passing traffic. "What?"

"I had only been with my parents for about six months as of April 24, 1990, also known as today. Right now, Clark Kent has only existed since last October, when the first meteor shower happened."

"Just missed a world without Clark Kent, did we?"

"Yup."

"Huh. Wonder what that would have been like."

Ouch. She said nothing further, going back to waiting in silence. Scowling, Clark watched cars go by. Most of them were in squared shapes. He would never understand why that kind of shape had once been considered aerodynamic or stylish.

Getting the walk signal, Clark let Lois go first and followed once again, taking his usual spot a step behind while she made her way somewhere. It occurred to him that something like this might be a small thing, but it also might be something that Lois associates with the meek and bumbling Clark that she saw when they worked together.

Walking a little more quickly, he placed himself firmly at her side and kept pace with her, determined to no longer stand just behind. Whether she noticed or not he may never know, but at least he was trying.

When they got stopped at the next street crossing, Clark decided to keep attempting a conversation. "Where did your family live in 1990?"

"Just outside the city."

"Really?"

"Daddy wanted to live on the base, but mom wanted us to get a little taste of life outside the military base. The place was fairly close to the city, which is why mom could do the shopping in the city at McGinty's. There was a park about half a block away with swings and a couple fast metal slides, not the plastic ones we always see today. Well, in the future today. God, time is confusing when you're in the wrong year."

"You once lived in the suburbs? The way you've always regarded that life I figured you'd never lived it."

"I was three when we first lived in the 'burbs and once mom died, it never happened again. Got a whole three years of suburbs under my belt, and since most of my memories of that time are from the last six months or so, which is about the time from when my mom was diagnosed to when she died, they aren't the greatest memories. After that it was base to base with my dad."

Clark sighed. Of course he brought up things that made her think of her mom's death. "I'm sorry that most of your early memories are so focused on your mom's death."

She hadn't so much as spared him a glance as they talked, and that didn't change as she continued. "It is what it is, Smallville. We all have a past to live with, and that's mine. Made me who I am."

"Still..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Don't worry, Clark. I came to terms with it a longtime ago. Not the painful subject it once was."

Traffic stopped and a moment later they were allowed to cross the street. Lois set a quick pace and Clark stayed at her side, thinking about what Lois had said. Was it really not the painful subject it had once been? He knew how it felt, losing a parent.

Maybe her reaction was dulled because of how young she had been when Ella had died. He had no idea what it could have been like growing up without one of his parents. He wouldn't trade the pain he'd felt over the loss of his father for all the memories he'd gotten with him, though. Those trumped the pain without fail.

She didn't have that, though. All Lois had was a few memories and no opportunity to have really gotten to know her mother.

At the store a minute later, they headed inside. A few steps in Lois stopped suddenly and turned to face him. She pulled the backpack off and handed it to him. "Don't do anything to screw up time while I pee."

Clark rolled his eyes and hung the backpack off of one shoulder as Lois walked off towards the back of the store. Heading over to some magazines, Clark grabbed one to see what was making national headlines these days. Flipping through it for a moment, he put it back and looked around the store, noting that it was quite a bit cleaner looking than it was 25 years in the future. Hardly surprising. It still had the same feel, though.

After looking at a good bit of the store, his eyes paused on a woman about ten feet away, a stroller at her side, lighting a cigarette. Had she done that in 2015 she would have been likely to get a fine. Smoking in public places had turned into a huge no-no in 25 years. She spotted him looking, so he offered a smile. "Good afternoon."

"I know what you're thinking," she said. "Everybody knows smoking is bad, and here I am, doing it with my youngest daughter sitting next to me. One of these days I'm going to quit, but I imagine it'll be when my two girls are a little older and possibly not quite as much of a handful."

Clark quirked an eyebrow, still smiling. "Actually I was just thinking good afternoon, but we can go with your topic if you feel like discussing the negative side of smoking and the merits of quitting."

The woman smiled sheepishly. She put her cigarette down for a second and pulled her hair back into a ponytail before picking it up again and taking a puff. She exhaled as she spoke. "Sorry, my mouth tends to get ahead of my brain."

"Oh, don't worry. I work with a woman that tends to speak, not to mention act, before she thinks with unbelievable regularity. She used to smoke, actually."

"Really? If you don't mind me asking, how did she quit?"

"Well, to be honest her mom died when she was young. Six, I think it was. Ended up raising a younger sister until said sister was sent off to boarding school in Europe. She started smoking as a form of rebellion in her teens and got herself hooked for a few years. She didn't enjoy it, but she liked putting it to her dad and after losing her mom to lung cancer, that was the best way to do it."

"Sounds like a woman I could get along with. Hell, sounds like me."

Clark grinned. "She's easy to get along with once you get to know her." Depending on if you hurt her or not. Where was Lois? She'd never taken so long to pee in all the years he'd known her. "She ended up quitting mostly by force of will because she didn't want to die young like her mother. At least not as a result of smoking, anyway. Some of the situations she puts herself in are an early death waiting to happen."

The woman sighed and glanced at her daughter, who Clark saw looked to be sleeping. Looking at the hand holding the cigarette for a moment, she looked back up at him. "I remember when it was the thing to do, when you were cool for smoking and the hazards to your health either didn't exist or didn't matter. Blissful ignorance was never so good."

"It's never too late to quit. I know it's difficult, but it's worth it. I know a guy that actually did it with hypnosis, of all things." Well that was a lie, but he'd heard stories about hypnosis working. A white lie to help a woman turn her life around wouldn't hurt anybody. "He was open to it, tried it, and it worked for him in the end. The health benefits of quitting are unbelievable, as you probably know."

"Hypnosis? Really? I always thought that stuff was a crock."

"If you really feel so self-conscious about being a smoker that you feel the need to explain yourself to a stranger who just says 'Good Afternoon,' then I'd say it's worth a try for you. I hope I'm not being too personal, but I'd say you probably want to be around until your daughters are your age, and that's no guarantee if you keep up the habit."

The woman looked at her cigarette a moment before looking back at him. Taking the stroller, she walked to the front door of the store and dumped the cigarette into a built-in ashtray on top of a trash can. She looked back at him and smiled before exiting the store.

"Holy shit."

Clark looked back over his shoulder and found Lois staring at where the woman had been. "What?"

"That was my mom."

Clark's eyes went wide. Unfortunately, that kind of thing was predictable in his life, yet he never seemed to predict it. "So I guess me telling her that hypnosis is a good way to quit smoking would be changing the time line?"

"Clark, what the fu-"

--

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"What do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I do, but I'm not exactly sure as to how we got to this point. Why are we talking about feeling like we've said things that we've already said?"

"I don't know," Lois mumbled, chewing on her bottom lip. "I just feel like we've had this conversation before."

"Lois, we've had A LOT of conversations before. A surprising amount, really, considering that we've been partners for about three months."

"It helps that we had Chloe to introduce us beyond Perry saying 'Here's your partner. Enjoy.' That could have been awkward without her."

"You yelling at Perry abut not wanting a partner certainly didn't make it awkward." Clark smiled at her, rubbing at his chin as he leaned back in his chair and relaxed a little bit. "It helped that Chloe always talked about her amazing cousin Lois, who I have to say lives up to the hype."

"Damn right I do." Figuring that was enough said on that topic, she decided to go with her gut on what to say next. "What do we want to do for dinner tonight?"

"Chinese?"

"Old reliable." Giving her watch a quick peek, Lois looked back at Clark. "All right, you order the food. I have the unenviable task of giving my mom a call and once again explaining why I'm 28 and haven't had a serious boyfriend in two years."

"As much as you get saved by Superman, you could always say you're seeing somebody casually."

"Very funny," Lois said, scowling at Clark. "I've yet to see you date anybody during our partnership, so I don't think I should be getting grief over my lack of a social life."

"And don't think that I don't hear about it from my mom. She says she only wants to see me happy, but she has this subtle way of suggesting things so that you don't even realize they are suggestions until it's too late and you're doing what she wants."

Lois pulled her phone out of her pocket and grinned at Clark. "Makes me relish the fact that my mom is just as forward as I am. She isn't nearly as crazy, though."

"Somebody not as crazy as you, Lois? Does that mean she would only put herself in half the life threatening situations you do?"

"Two thirds," Lois said as she dialed. Putting the phone up to her ear, she heard her mom answer. "Hi, mom. Yes, I'm still at the office. Because it's Tuesday and Clark and I decided to work late." Seeing Clark smile at her predicament, she grabbed a pencil and tossed it at him, hitting him in the chest. Going back to listening to her mom, she knew it was going to be a long talk. They always were.


	4. Chapter 4

-- Chapter 4

"Crap," Lois muttered as she hung up the phone. Grabbing the box of chicken fried rice Clark had ordered for her, she grabbed a plastic fork and dug in, chewing around the annoyed from she wore.

Looking over at her partner, she watched him bite off about half an egg roll while typing something with his free hand. It hadn't taken her long to see that Clark was absurdly adept at multitasking, though he rarely did it when the office was full of people. Generally he reserved this kind of thing for when it was just the two of them doing after hours work.

"What's up, Lois?"

Blinking her eyes into focus, she noticed Clark hadn't taken his eyes off the screen. "What?"

"You said 'Crap' in that annoyed tone I've grown so accustomed to, so I figure there's something bothering you. Since it was uttered as you stopped talking with your mother, I imagine she has something to do with why you spoke."

"How did you even hear that?"

Clark shrugged. "I've had good hearing my whole life. Just one of those things."

Lois eyed him a moment and took another bite of her food, chewing slowly and swallowing before answering. "My folks are coming to town day after tomorrow. Daddy has some leave he wants to use, and the so-called appropriate use of that time is coming to see Chloe, Luce and I."

Clark finally looked away from his screen and over at her. "What's so bad about your parents coming to Metropolis?"

Lois guffawed, shaking her head and speaking around the food she was in the process of chewing. "Are you kidding me? I love my parents, but them coming to town never results in anything but me needing a week to decompress after they leave. They're probably going to want me to take a day or two off while they're here, meaning things are going to pile up because you'll be doing everything yourself, then I'll get back and probably have to correct half the stuff you did without me..."

"You're confidence in me is overwhelming."

"Oh come on, Clark. Perry is going to ask you to do things I normally do, you'll be all overwhelmed and clumsy... it's not a knock, it's just who you are."

"Again, the confidence? Overwhelming."

Lois waved off his annoyed tone. Taking another bite, she watched Clark go back to working as he finished off his egg roll. Suddenly he stretched, and Lois realized something. "Clark, is there any chance you could, say, not be here while my parents are?"

He didn't turn his head, but his eyes met hers, full of confusion. "What?"

"If I know my mom half as well as I think I do, and I think I know her about as well as anybody in the world does, she's going to ask if you're single."

"I'm confident I'll have an answer for her challenging but fair question."

"Yeah, and when you say yes she's going to say 'What a coincidenceཀ I have an extremely single daughter that you work with every single dayཀ You two should do something together sometime.' Then she'll wink at you and make things totally uncomfortable. She's pushy about this kind of thing, so that won't be the end of it."

"She can't possibly be all that bad, Lois. She just wants you to be happy."

"Clark, it's what she does. Plus, I am happyཀ What's not to be happy about in my life?"

Clark sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Happiness is a complex thing and the definition varies depending upon whom you ask. For you, your career in journalism brings you happiness. Your mom found her own happiness in her family. Since she knows that made her happy, not to mention all the people that found the same happiness in marriage and family, she wants that for you. Perhaps you just haven't sufficiently explained how happy journalism makes you?"

Lois frowned, shaking her head. "You make it sound much more rational than it appears or feels. And hey, I've tried to explain how happy journalism makes me. It's not my fault the message can't get through her thick coat of not wanting to hear it."

Clark grinned at her. "As the world famous Lois Lane, champion of Superman and the good he does, shouldn't you be able to get your message across?"

Rolling her eyes, Lois grabbed an egg roll and took a bite. "This is a little different than convincing the world that our resident alien has nothing but good intentions. My mother is much less believing of what I say about myself than what I say of Superman, mostly because I'm like her and would only admit I wasn't happy when I was so unhappy I wouldn't know what to do BUT admit I wasn't happy."

Clark stared at her a moment, mouth slightly open, before shaking his head and rubbing at the bridge of his nose and pushing up his glasses. "So... wait. To admit you're unhappy you have to be so unhappy that you're able to admit you're unhappy?"

Lois thought about it a moment before nodding. "Yup."

"But..." Clark sighed. "Nevermind. I'm not even going to try."

Lois winked at him. "Best you don't." Sighing, Lois slumped back in her chair, letting her head rest against it. "What the hell am I going to do about my mom?"

"If you're really so keen to avoid having any kind of conversation with your mom about relationships and your lack there of, you could always lie and say that you have a boyfriend. Tell her that you haven't wanted to jinx it by telling anybody."

Lois scoffed. "My mom has a prize winning habit of sniffing out lies. It's not a first generation thing, my habit for finding the truth." Suddenly an idea struck her and she broke out into a grin, sitting up nodding. "Yes, YES. Oh, you're a genius, Clark Kent, and as such you're going to help me."

"Uh oh."

"Not uh oh. Uh oh is bad. This is good. You're going to be my boyfriend for the duration of my parents' visit."

Clark groaned, leaning over and resting his head on his desk. "I just had to say something helpful. I couldn't be useless and say 'Well, I don't envy you and what's coming.' Nope, I try to be a good guy and what does it get me? Roped in."

"All right, we're going to have to make this believable. I'm calling Chloe so we can figure out the finer details of how we're going to pull this off."

--

"This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard. I _love_ it."

Lois waggled her eyebrows at Clark, who groaned and sank back into Chloe's couch as he pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Didn't I tell you she was going to love this when we were headed over here?"

"I think she may love this idea for different reasons than you think. I still don't understand why you didn't just tell her over the phone."

Lois looked over at Chloe and smiled a second before turning back to answer his question. "Where's the fun in that? This is the kind of news that I like to deliver in person and see a reaction. Her face lighting up when I told her? _Perfect._"

"Perfect? This idea has NO chance of workingཀ We have to be a convincing couple. There has to be kissing, there has to be intimacy and touching... basically, we have to simulate a couple well enough so that your mom is convinced that you're in a relationship. If you're mom is half as good at truth-finding as you are, there isn't going to be any room for mistakes."

"Sounds about right."

"So why do you think this is a good idea? We have to squeeze, what? Seven or eight dates worth of a relationship into tonight and tomorrow?"

"_Fortunately_," Lois said as she crossed her arms, "we've talked a lot in our time together as partners and have a good knowledge of each other's background. Right, Chloe?"

"Right."

"Therefore, we're basically all set when it comes to what we need to know in terms of personal details. What this leaves us with is working on the intimacy. Kissing, touching, all the stuff you covered a moment ago. We can be believable if we set our minds to it." When Clark just stared at her, she raised an eyebrow. "Say it with me: We can be believable if we set our minds to it. We can be believable if we set our minds to it. We can be believable if we set our minds to it."

By the third time he was mumbling along, which Lois figured was going to be as good as she got. Rolling her eyes, she turned to Chloe. "You're going to be the judge of our believability."

Chloe grinned at her. "I think I can do that."

"Good. Set some parameters for what you need to see."

"I think the thing that would make aunt Ella believe that you two are a couple is a combination of comfortableness with each other and Clark being strong enough, bold enough I guess, to have caught your eye. The whole quiet and clumsy thing is going to have to be put on the shelf for the entirety of their stay, because Lois would never be caught dead with somebody she could just walk all over."

"True story."

Clark sat up and frowned. "I have to _shelve_ being quiet and clumsy? That's kind of who I am, Chloe, so it's not like I can choose not to be that way."

"Not entirely accurate, Clark." Lois walked over and sat down in a chair, leaning forward a little. "When it's just you and me working late, or if we happen to be doing something with Chloe and Pete, the quiet kind of disappears, as does the clumsiness. Earlier tonight, for example, you were typing quite adeptly with one hand while you ate an egg roll. Had I not seen you do it before I would have been quite impressed. Hell, the first time I saw you do it I was all kinds of shocked."

"On a side note," Clark said, looking over at Chloe, "where's Pete tonight?"

"At the Democratic primary in Topeka. They're nominating Hubert Dayson tonight."

"Is it bad that I didn't remember that, what with being a reporter and all?"

"So long as you vote, it's all good."

"Right. Now, let's focus on... wait, why aren't you there covering that, Chloe? You've been covering the Gubernatorial race since people announced their candidacy about the time the last election ended."

"Benny got sick at daycare this afternoon, so I gave Pete my recorder and decided to stay here with him instead of setting him up with one of you two for the night and potentially getting you sick. Of course, you ended up here anyway so the plan not to expose you two to the flu? Out the window."

Lois got up out of the chair and headed into the kitchen, grabbing a glass out of the cabinet and filling it with water. "I still can't believe that you have a three year old son." Walking back into the living room, she took a drink of water as she sat down. "How are things going between you and Pete?"

"Good. Really good, actually. It's too bad we couldn't work things out when Benny was born, but I think we're past all the issues that got in the way back then and can be an actual couple instead of sex buddies gone wrong."

"You know, Chlo, this whole thing with me having to fake a relationship with Clark is all your fault."

Her cousin gaped at her for a second. "I didn't suggest thisཀ" She paused and smiled. "Though, I kind of wish I had when it comes down to it."

"No, but you having a kid and being in a relationship is setting a standard in my mom's mind that I can't meet. You know she's seen you as basically a third daughter ever since aunt Moira checked herself into the mental hospital when we were kids. As such, I get compared to you, as does Lucy, though at least she has a long term relationship to fall back on. All I have is my job to try and convince mom I'm happy. It doesn't work, and it's all your fault."

Chloe rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her. "Yeah, well, I'm so sorry that me having a son and a relationship is making your mom stress you out more. Now, on the topic of people you share genetic material with, we should get to making you two believable so your mom will think there are children in your future."

"Right, good idea," Lois mumbled, turning in her chair to face Clark. "Let's work on the intimacy."

"First, a question: are we really going to reenact the plot of numerous cliche made-for-television movies and act like a couple to get your mom off your back? This kind of thing doesn't even work in those."

"It was your ideaཀ"

"Noཀ My idea was for you to say that you'd been seeing a guy recently but he was out of town on business for the next week. This monstrosity of a bad idea was _your_ idea."

"_Be that as it may_, we're going to do it, we're going to convince them and we're going to get the people I share genetic material with, as Chloe strangely put it, off my back." Lois stood up and started pacing. "Seriously, what's the stigma about hitting 30 without being married, quite possibly with children? It's 2014, well on the way to 2015; why haven't we moved past that kind of nonsense? It's not like people only live to the age of 45 on a regular basis anymore."

"You know she's serious when she starts ranting like that, Clark."

"That's what I hear. So, what do we work on first?"

Lois smiled at him sweetly. "Kissing."

She heard Chloe laugh as Clark's face went red and his mouth started making motions akin to that of a fish. "What... what... you want to start with kissing? You were one of those kids that dove in the deep end before you learned how to swim, aren't you?"

"Learn by doing. Get up."

Clark did just that, albeit at a slow pace. Walking over to him, she stood about six inches in front of him and looked up into his eyes. "We'll start with a peck on the lips. Before we start, though, remember: I've very hot and an amazing kisser. Any feelings of infatuation that result from this are not my problem."

"Ditto."

"Yeah, ok," she said, rolling her eyes at him. Standing up on her tiptoes, Lois leaned in and kissed him gently, then let herself back down. "I like your lips, Clark."

"Ditto."

Lois frowned at him. "Ditto?"

"Sorry, I was too busy getting overwhelmed by feelings of infatuation to express myself with more than one word of agreement."

"Very funny." She turned to Chloe. "How'd we look?"

"A little stiff. Like two people expecting to be sharing a first kiss that they never thought they'd be sharing. I think diving right in is the way to go about things, honestly. If you're going to pull this off, start with the stuff that leaves you panting and work backwards. You have to get past the awkward to be able to fake intimacy. Probably. You guys put me in the oddest situations."

Looking up at Clark, Lois shrugged. "What do you think?"

"I think she's probably right."

"I do too. You ready for this?"

"Is it weird I feel like I should be buying you dinner?"

"No, just old fashioned." Grabbing him by his shirt, Lois pulled him down and crashed her lips to his, kissing him as best she knew how. His hands drifted to her waist, pulling her body flush against his, and her hands made their way up into his hair and grabbed hold of his tresses, keeping his mouth against hers.

A minute later they broke apart, breathing deeply. Lois looked up at Clark through her lashes, eyes heavily lidded. That had been... how did a guy that could kiss like that not have a girlfriend? Finding herself still situated against Clark's body, Lois pulled away and ran a hand through her hair as she looked to Chloe. Her cousin nodded.

"Yeah, that was believable.

--

"Do you really think we're ready for this Lois?"

Looking over at Clark, she rolled her eyes as he fidgeted with his tie and looked like one big bundle of nerves. "Shouldn't I be the one that's all nervous about her parents finding out she's a liar?"

"Yes, you should. Why aren't you?"

"We played the couple all day yesterday and everybody here bought it. Nobody but you, me and Chloe knows that we're faking this thing. I _was_ a little surprised by the lack of surprise evident on everybody's faces yesterday. Did people already think we were sleeping together or am I imagining things?"

"You are most definitely imagining things. I think people were surprised but they hid it well. I doubt anybody here ever expected something to happen between you and I, which I think is a little insulting, but whatever. When are your folks getting here?"

Lois checked her watch before looking back at Clark. "Any time now, really. Their plane landed an hour ago, so I doubt it will be too much longer. Honestly, I'd rather they get here sooner than later so we can get this show on the road."

"Yeah, and if we pull this off I say we nominate ourselves for the Academy Awards, because with all of one day to rehearse this'd be quite the acting job."

"At least we didn't have any lines to learn."

"Is that them?

Lois turned around and saw her parents stepping out of the elevator, her mom waving at her as she was spotted. "That would be them, yup. Showtime, Clark."

Getting up out of her chair, Lois smiled and met them halfway to her desk, wrapping her dad in a hug first. "Hi, daddy."

"Hello, little Lo. How are you?"

"All right. You?"

"Very good, now."

Lois smiled at him a second before moving over and hugging her mom. When the hug ended her mom reached up and swept some hair out of her eyes, smiling. "You finally let it go back to its natural color."

"Yeah, I got tired of dying it. How was your flight?"

"Good. Minimal turbulence, minimal wait time on the tarmac. Pretty much everything you could want in a flight. How are you, hon? The truth. None of this hemming and hawing about how you're fine or all right."

"I'm good mom," Lois said as she led them over to her desk, where Clark was standing. "No hemming, no hawing: I'm happy." Motioning at Clark, he stood up and walked over. "This is Clark Kent, my partner... and boyfriend."

"Your... wait, what?"

Lois smiled at her mom as Clark shook hands with her dad. "My boyfriend. We've been together a couple months now."

Her mom raised an eyebrow at her. "Then why did you keep telling me that you were single?"

"We weren't telling anybody that we were seeing each other, mom. We just told Chloe a couple nights ago, and we have yet to tell Mrs. Kent that we're an item. Things have just been going really well between us, and it kind of took us by surprise that it happened at all." Clark coughed behind her and Lois had to hold herself back from rolling her eyes. "But, ya know, we figured it's time to unveil our relationship to the world."

Her mom eyed her for a second before walking up to Clark, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. Clark just smiled at her like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her mom turned her head back to face her. "Well, you've certainly sprung worse things on us." She turned back to Clark and smiled at him. "I have to say, guys in glasses aren't traditionally her type, but the rest of you fits the mold. It's nice to meet you."

Clark smiled at her nodding. "I've heard that I'm not really her type, as things normally go, but I guess she saw something she liked."

"I guess so. So, you guys haven't told your mother about this yet?"

"No mom," Lois answered, "we're going to go out to the Kent farm in Smallville and tell her once your visit is over."

"Why don't we all just go out there this weekend?"

Lois' eyebrows climbed up her forehead. "What now?"

"Today's Thursday, right? How about you guys take tomorrow afternoon off, we all drive out to Smallville and talk to Mrs. Kent about you two? Your father and I wanted to take a day to go to Smallville and visit Gabe anyway, so this wouldn't be out of the way, just a slightly longer trip. This is all based on if your mother is ok with having us out there, Clark, of course."

Lois glanced at Clark, whose eyes were wide and staring at her. Flicking her eyes back to her mom, Lois plastered on a smile. "I guess if you're going to be out there anyway." When she glanced at Clark again, she mouthed the word sorry to him before smiling at her mom once again. "He'll call his mom and we'll all go to Smallville tomorrow afternoon."

--

"No. No no no, no, NO!"

"Come on, Clarkཀ How often do I ask you for a favor?"

Clark goggled at her. "I'm currently in the middle of the last favor that you didn't even ask me to take part inཀ I tried to help and you and I got drafted into your insanityཀ But telling my mom that we're in a relationship? Holy cow is that a bad ideaཀ"

"Yes, I know that it's not exactly the greatest thing ever, but I need you to help me with this or my mom is never going to trust what I say about a relationship againཀ We'll go out to your farm, tell your mom we're a couple and have a good weekend."

"You know how your mom is about finding the truth? My mom is unbelievable at it. She'll look at us for three seconds and know that we're lying to her. Ask Chloe. She'll tell you the same thing." Clark paused and exhaled through pursed lips. "Look, we might be able to get away with it if I tell my mom when I call her..."

"Noཀ There will be no mention of why we're all coming out there, Clark. We'll tell her in person."

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"I heard it and I'm disregarding it. We're just going to have to sell this couple thing even more so than we are already, ok? Plus, with your mom we only have to do it for a few days, right? We can be a bonafide couple that long, right?"

Clark frowned and sat down. "We're not going to be able to just be a couple for a few hours at a time like we were going to do with your parents. This is going to be an entire weekend, together. Expect my mom to insist that we stay at the farm, and don't be surprised if she expects us to sleep in the same room. And before you say anything, I am not sleeping on the floor."

"Oh grow up, Clark," Lois grumbled as she sat down in her desk chair. "I can sleep next to you for two or three nights without getting weirded out." She winked at him. "Can you sleep next to me for a few nights without getting so turned on you can't help yourself?"

Clark raised an eyebrow at her. "Can you sleep next to _me_ without getting so turned on you can't help yourself?"

"Throwing down the gauntlet, are we Kent?"

"Think you can handle it?"

Lois laughed, amused by this confident new Clark she was seeing. "Handle it? You're going to be squirming by the time we leave the farm."

"I guess we'll see."

"I guess we will. Call your mom."

Grabbing his phone, Clark dialed the number for the farm and waited a couple rings until his mom answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey mom, it's me."

"Hello, Clark. How are you?"

"I'm all right, how are you?"

"Good, good. What brings about the midday call?"

Clark sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before finding the confidence to go ahead with things. "Well, as it turns out there's a lot going on in Smallville this weekend, and I thought you might want in on the fun."

"What do you mean?"

"Lois's parents flew in to Metropolis today, and are heading to Smallville tomorrow afternoon to see Chloe's dad. I imagine that Chloe, Benny and Pete are going there this weekend, because Lois and Lucy are going with Sam and Ella to see Gabe, so I figured I would come back to town for the weekend as well and we could do a big barbecue thing Saturday afternoon at the farm. This is all dependent on you, of course. I haven't said anything to anybody about it yet."

"Clark, I think it's a wonderful idea. It's been too long since we had everybody to the farm. How many people do you think will be there?"

"Well, uh, You, me, Lois, Lucy, Sam, Ella, Chloe, Pete, Benny and Gabe. That would be ten, unless you want to invite people, which would of course be fine."

"No, I think we'll have enough people there. I think this is going to be very enjoyable, Clark, and I'm interested to meet Lois's parents. It'll be interesting to see the people who raised such an interesting individual."

Clark nodded a little, then shook his head before answering. "If nothing else, it will be interesting."


	5. Chapter 5

-- Chapter 5

"Have you ever had one of those moments where you realize just how stupid what you're doing is, but instead of stopping what you're doing you just keep right on doing it, digging your grave so quickly that you can't believe your plans aren't a backhoe?"

Lois fixed a glare on Clark. "So help me Clark, if you wimp out now my revenge will be swift and painful. We're going to tell your mom that we're a couple, and then introduce her to my folks. Seeing as how they'll be here in half an hour, we should do this sooner rather than later."

"I know, I know." Clark inhaled and exhaled loudly a couple times before he stood up a little straighter. "Let's get this over with. And if she doesn't believe us, don't say I didn't warn you."

Heading inside from where they'd been standing on the porch, Lois followed Clark into the kitchen, where they found Martha washing some vegetables. Giving Clark a reassuring pat on the back, Lois heard him clear his voice, getting his mom's attention. She turned around and smiled at her. "Lois, hello. How are you today?"

"Actually, mom," Clark interrupted, "we have something that we want to tell you."

"All right, you have my attention."

"We're, um, Lois and I are... well, it's like this, kinda..."

Lois rolled her eyes and smacked Clark on the arm before looking back at Martha. "We're a couple, Mrs. Kent. We've been together for a couple months now, and we thought we should tell you in person. We told my parents when they came into town Thursday and despite his stuttering, Clark felt bad about them knowing and not you. Plus, it probably would have come up when you met my parents today, so that would have been an awkward way for you to hear about it."

Martha leaned back against the counter, her arms folding. "Well, I can't say that I'm surprised. When we first met, Lois, I saw the way Clark looked at you, not to mention the way you two instantly fell into a rhythm like you'd known each other for years, and thought that something good could happen. I'm glad his history of waiting far too long to ask women out didn't apply this time."

Sneaking a quick glance at Clark, he all of a sudden looked incredibly uncomfortable. This, of course, made Lois grin. "Actually, Mrs. Kent, I made the first move. Swept him right off his feet."

"Wait, no, that's not true."

"Oh honey," Martha said as she stepped forward, patting Clark once on the cheek. "Don't feel bad. I was doubtful that you actually made the first move anyway."

"But... but..." Clark sighed. Lois had noticed him doing that a lot recently. "Ah, to be me."

Lois ran a hand through the back of his hair before giving him an affectionate pat on the top of his head. "Poor Clarkie. All this really does make you sound kinda like you're just getting dragged along in things, doesn't it?"

Clark looked down at her. "I can't imagine why I would sound like I'm getting dragged along in things, can you?"

Lois cleared her throat before smiling at him. "Nothing crosses my mind, no."

"I figured as much." He leaned down and kissed her, surprising her a little at a display of affection that they hadn't discussed previously. They'd pretty much plotted out most of their kisses, which Clark had thought would tip them off, but she'd figured that people couldn't possibly figure out a scripted kiss from an unscripted kiss unless they were to advertise it. He pulled away and smiled at her. "Now that we've told people and word has undoubtedly spread, how about we help my mom get things ready?"

Lois smiled back at him. "Sounds like a plan." She turned and faced Martha, who'd retreated a bit during their kiss. "What can we do to help, Mrs. Kent?"

"Lois, please, call me Martha."

"I think that can be arranged."

"Good. Now, everybody will probably start getting here in about fifteen minutes so what you two can do is get tables and chairs set up outside. Fortunately it's a beautiful day today, and we won't have to cram everybody inside the house. Clark, you know where everything is because nothing in this house has moved in ten years, so you two do that and we'll be on our way. Oh, and Clark, you should start the grills up once you two have tables and chairs done."

Clark smiled and entwined his fingers with hers, Lois trying to keep her eyebrows from climbing up her forehead in surprise at the gesture. Apparently if he was in for a penny, he was in for a pound. "Not a problem, mom. Aside from the vegetables, you'll end up doing so little that you won't know what to do with your time today."

"I seriously doubt that, but one can always hope. Now, shoo, you two. Let me work. And if I catch you two making out in a corner somewhere instead of helping out, there will be consequences."

Lois couldn't help from smiling as the elder woman went back to what she'd been doing before they'd interrupted her, and was led back through the house by the hand that was still being held by Clark. When they got to a closet he let go and opened it up, pulling out a card table and handing it to her before pulling a second one out. Lois made her way back to the front door and outside, letting Clark pass her before following him to a spot near a tree. Lois started unfolding her table, getting it set up as Clark finished with his. "So, that went over well."

"Exceptionally well, even. Color me surprised, but I guess we make a believable couple."

"Of course, it helps things that your mother was not surprised by the fact that we're 'together'," Lois said as she made air quotes. "Do we really act like people that have known each other for years instead of just a few months? I mean, I know we get along well but I didn't think it was anything beyond good give and take."

Clark shrugged and motioned for her to follow him. He led her to a picnic table, situating himself at one end while she took the other. Together they lifted and moved it over to where they'd put the other two tables. "I hadn't ever really thought about it. It was just the way things were; who am I to question how I get along with a person? More to the point, _why_ would I question it?"

"A valid point. There are things you always question, such as government and corporate executives. Friendship, though? Not something I question unless I'm striking it up with a guy that kills people for a living." On Clark's look, Lois waved a hand at him. "A story for another time. That was a good touch in there with the kiss, by the way."

"Hey, I was just playing off your lead, what with the running your hand through my hair as a comforting gesture. Very genuine."

"Yeah, but the kiss and the hand holding sold it. I've never really been the hand holding type, but I have to say that it's a lot better with you than it was when other guys tried it with me. With you, it seems natural. With others, it seemed like forced contact they only bothered with for my sake. Not my idea of quality touching."

"No, I can imagine not."

Clark led her back into the house and to the closet where they'd first gotten the tables, pulling out a couple folding chairs and handing them to her. She walked back outside, putting them down on one side of the lined up tables, and Clark put the two he'd carried down on the other side.

"All right, how's the seating going to work here... Chloe, Benny and Pete will want to sit together, so they can have one of the sides of the picnic table. Your parents and Lucy can have the other. People will expect you and me to sit together, so we'll take one side and that leaves the other side for my mom and Gabe. This is all subject to where anybody and everybody sits, of course."

"It's a very nice seating arrangement, Clark. If journalism falls out of favor with you, you should think of taking up event planning, or at least seating arrangements as a career."

"You're hilarious," Clark said as he dragged a grill over closer to the tables. He bent over and tossed some grass into the air, watching it float for a second.

"What's that about?"

"Checking the wind direction so I don't put the grills somewhere that will have smoke blowing in our faces."

Lois nodded, conceding that to be a good idea. She watched him drag a second grill over next to the first, and sat down in one of the chairs she'd carried outside as she watched him go about the process of lighting the charcoal. He had them done quickly; apparently this was far from a foreign occurrence to him. He walked over and sat down next to her.

"My mom thinks meeting the parents of such an interesting person such as yourself will be quite the experience."

Lois looked over at him a second before going back to watching the trees sway slightly with the breeze. "I don't doubt that it will be exactly that, Clark. Pretty much everything involving my parents is an experience of one kind or another. I'm certain they'll all get along since your mom and Gabe have been friends all these years, but what I'm really afraid of is having our futures planned out for us, only to disappoint all with the news that we 'broke up' not too long in the future."

"You think they'll actually go so far as to plan out our futures for us?"

Lois looked at him. "I've told you about my mom, right? Despite what you've seen, she's quite devious in something of a loving way."

He nodded. "Right, right. If it makes you feel any better about things, I've never had a problem with my mom trying to plan out my future for me. She's always said that we all have to make our own way through life. If you let others plan what you do, you aren't living life, you're just kind of going along with it."

"Ya know, your mom may be the coolest thing about you, Clark."

"Nothing like praise to really make one fell good about oneself, is there?"

Lois was about to remark on that when she heard the crunch of wheels on gravel. Turning her head, she spotted Pete's car, followed by her parent's rental. Running a hand back through her hair, Lois let herself slump into her chair a bit as the cars came to a stop and people started climbing out. "And here I was enjoying our little acting break."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Lois, but is the way we talk when we're acting like a couple any different from the times it's just you and me? For me, there hasn't been an adjustment in how I talk to you, just the way I touch you. Granted, that went from basically never to, well, more than that."

"Now that you mention it, things are fairly similar overall. Huh. Is that weird?"

Clark shrugged. "Hell if I know. Most of my relationships aren't fake, but then in most of them I'm actively trying to make them work. Most things in my life have not been this smooth."

"I guess it's nice to know that if we can't find a good relationship, at least we have a very good fake one to fall back on in the future."

"If that isn't the definition of reassuring, I don't know what is." Clark reached over and laid a hand on her shoulder, massaging it a little with his hand. "It's been a while since I've been in a couple; this is the kind of thing that people expect to see of people that have been together two months, right?"

"Who cares?" Lois mumbled, melting under his unbelievable touch. First he's a really good kisser, now he has hands that can make her muscles turn into jelly? How in the world had some woman not snatched him up since he'd come to Metropolis? "Clark, have your fingers always been so relaxing?"

"What?"

Mentally shaking herself, Lois sat up and smiled at him. "Nothing." Waving at the forthcoming people, she decided it best to just stay sitting where she could enjoy the magic fingers of Clark Kent. Unfortunately, she didn't get to enjoy them half as long as she wanted to before they were getting up to greet people. Why she had to greet them, she didn't know, since she'd seen everybody but Clark and Martha at breakfast and for the hours afterwards until she'd come over here so they could spring the news on Martha.

She gave her mom a one armed hug while Clark greeted her father before they switched spots and greeted the other person. "So, Clark," Ella said, "what can Sam and I help with?"

"Well, why don't I introduce you two to my mom, and then we'll go from there. She's head of operations around these parts, and I try not to make any big decisions on who does what lest I screw with her master plan."

"Always good to follow the chain of command, Clark. Many a unit has been ruined by not being able to think like you are."

"Daddy," Lois said as she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine. I'll try to keep the lost units talk to a minimum until after we've eaten."

"That's all I ask."

Leading them in, Clark brought everybody into the kitchen, where Martha was wiping off her hands on a dish towel. "Ella, Sam, this is my mom, Martha Kent. Mom, this is Ella and Sam Lane."

Martha shook each hand offered, and showed each the friendly smile that Lois always saw her wear when meeting new people. Always, of course, meaning herself and now her parents.

"I'm so happy to meet both of you. I have to say, I'm glad we could do this. Believe it or not, I've never had the chance to meet the parents of somebody Clark has dated."

"Why's that?" Ella asked.

"Well, not to be too morbid in our first minute of knowing each other, but the girl that Clark last dated long term lost both her parents in the meteor shower of 1989 that our town is so famous for. I'd known the aunt who'd raised her for a long time before Clark started dating the girl, Lana, so there really wasn't much to it."

"You should be happy that you even knew who raised Clark's past girlfriend. We got to meet the last young man that Lois dated all of once in the year that they were together, and we never got to meet his parents. I know that it's not always customary for parents to meet early on in things, or even at all long before the wedding, but it's always nice to see who had the most influence on his upbringing."

"Oh it is. Knowing a person's background puts so many things into context."

Lois looked to Clark, who was watching the interplay between their parents. He seemed to notice her gaze, though, and looked over. She motioned with her head towards the door and he seemed to take the hint, starting to inch his way away from the parents in the room. Lois followed suit and they were soon out of the house, making their way to the tables where they were greeted by Chloe, who was lounging in one of the chairs. "So, how'd the meet and greet go?"

"So far, so good," Clark answered, taking a seat across from Chloe. Lois was about to sit down next to him when she spotted a little thing running towards her. Bracing herself, she caught Benny as he leapt into her arms, his winded father coming up behind them.

"I was just about to get him. That's why you retreated into your aunt Lo's arms, isn't it bud?"

Lois smiled as Benny shook his head furiously. "Nobody can catch you, right Benny?"

"Rightཀ" He squirmed a little and Lois let him down, watching as he took off running again. This time both Pete and Gabe, who'd just driven up and was walking over, took off after Benny.

"Your dad really likes being a grandfather, doesn't he Chloe?" Clark asked.

"He does. Never smiles so much as when Benny is around. Now, on the subject of parents, before we were interrupted by my tiny running terror you were telling me about the meeting of the parents. All I got was 'So far, so good,' and that's hardly the information I wanted."

"I'm not sure what I was expecting," Clark said, "but I don't think it was my mom to lead off with the fact that Lana's parent's were dead and she'd known Nell for a long time when she and I started dating back in high school."

"Yeah, and then my mom started talking about how she only got to meet Caden once during our relationship, and never his parents. I'm not opposed to my parents meeting the parents of people I date as a rule, but it tests my nerves when it happens."

"Oh come on, sis, they aren't that bad." Lois looked back over her shoulder and spotted Lucy walking towards them, taking a seat next to Chloe a moment later.

"Well of course you can say that; you keep getting into relationships with guys they like. Where have you been hiding?"

"Looking around. I like your barn, Clark."

"Uh, thanks, I guess."

"That said, I also stopped by the restroom in the house and heard mom and dad talking to Mrs. Kent."

Lucy started laughing, causing Lois to sit up a little straighter and frown. "Well? What were they discussing that's so funny?"

"Mom was telling the story of what happened the last time they met the parents of one of your boyfriends, that guy Seth that was your college boyfriend. Eight years later and that story still makes me laugh. And I know you don't think it's funny, but if that had happened to me, you'd find it equally as hilarious as I do."

"Yeah, well, things like that don't tend to happen to you and they do happen to me. They shouldn't have even metཀ Yet somehow his folks and mine were in town at the same time and met basically against all my best efforts."

"So what happened?"

Lois looked over at Clark, exhaling as she wrinkled her nose remembering the whole situation. "Let's just say that his parents were anti-military and leave it at that."

"What? Noཀ Come on, you can't leave it at that."

"She can," Lucy said, "but I won't. So, it's breakfast on a Saturday morning..."

Lois groaned and stood up out of her chair, smoothing out her shorts as she did so. "If you don't mind, since I've heard and lived this story, I'm going to go get something to drink. Anybody need anything when I come back?"

"I'm all right, but could you bring back some milk for Benny? I imagine once they come around here again, he'll be thirsty." Suddenly she frowned and looked around. "Speaking of which, where the heck did those two and my dad get to?"

"They headed off to explore a few minutes ago, Chloe," Clark answered.

"It's nice that they tell me things."

Lois grinned and shook her head, walking away. She headed into the house through the backdoor, finding herself surrounded by silence with three sets of eyes on her. Looking around, she bit her lip. "Did I interrupt something or am I just unwelcome by parents now?"

"Of course not, dear," Martha said, smiling at her. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

"I was going to get a glass of water for myself and some milk for Benny." Martha pulled a couple glasses out of a cupboard, handing one to Lois before walking to the fridge and pulling out a pitcher of water. Lois took it from her, pouring some in her class and when she turned back to Martha traded her the pitcher of water for the glass of milk. Looking over at her parents, Lois couldn't decide why they were so quiet. "You guys all right? Or have you just decided to shun me until I leave the room?"

"We're not shunning you, Lois; we're simply waiting for you to leave so that we can talk about you behind your back. We love you, but that doesn't mean we want to say everything right to your face."

Lois scowled. "Nothing like a healthy parent child relationship to really brighten up my day."

Ella walked over to her, smiling and running a hand slowly through her hair. "You know how much we love you, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss your life amongst ourselves. One of the great things about being a parent is being able to discuss your children at length with other parents. Similar experiences and that kind of thing. Gabe, Chloe and Pete would be more than welcome in this conversation, and very understanding of all that we're talking about."

"And of course, since Clark, Lucy and I have no children we wouldn't understand what you're talking about. Well, Lucy would probably still be welcomed because she seems to know something about everything. Still, that's kind of presumptive, isn't it?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't mean this as a knock against you, or a knock against your life experiences, but you don't have a clue as to what raising a child is like. None. You can't. It's just something that you live. If you haven't lived it, you're going to find that you're seriously lacking when it comes to adding to the conversation. Clark, and yes, even Lucy, would find the same thing. We're sharing experiences and stories about you guys when you were younger. Do you have any stories like that to share?"

Rolling her eyes, Lois shook her head. She never won these conversations, yet she always seemed to get into them with her mother. Why did she always take the bait?

"I love you, Lo, but you aren't a parent. In this conversation, you'd just be uncomfortably silent."

"Yes, fine, I get it. Just, please, don't everyone get your hopes up about Clark and I ending up at the altar sometime down the line with grandchildren for you all coming soon after. We've been together two months; just because it's the longest relationship either of us has had in years doesn't mean we're going all the way. And now that I've said that, please mom, none of your usual pressuring. I know I'm a perpetual disappointment in the romance department, but you pushing me doesn't help."

Lois saw her mom frown at her a second before she quirked an eyebrow. "When have I ever pressured you in a relationship, Lo?"

Lois laughed incredulously. "You do realize the phrase you say most to me is 'I only want to see you happy, Lo,' right?"

"I'd imagine that's because it's true."

"Yes, but do you also know that you start, end or bookend that thought with talking about marriage and children? Every. Single. Time. Much like death, taxes and people with too much money running for public office, it's one of the certainties in my life. When I tell you that I'm happy because of my job, you brush it off like it doesn't even matter. I'm 28, mom, not somebody on her way to being an old spinster. You don't have to espouse marriage and children to me every time we talk."

"Oh, baby girl," her mom said as she walked over and hugged her. Lois knew she was trying to be understanding now because she always used her old term of endearment in those cases. "I don't mean to discount your job as a source of happiness. Believe me, I don't. If it seems like I'm pushing you towards marriage and children it's because that's how I found the most happiness in my life. I know that you're not me, no matter how similar we are, but I just want you to have every little bit of happiness that you can. If I push, I push what I know worked for me."

Lois laughed a moment as she pulled out of the hug before gulping down some of her water. "You know, when I talked to Clark about your tendencies to talk about marriage and children he said something similar to what you just said, about you knowing where you found your happiness in life and wanting me to have the same."

"I'm glad that you're with somebody who's quite intelligent."

"Will you at answer a question for me, mom?"

"Of course I will."

"Why don't you do the same things with Lucy, talking about being with somebody, marriage and children all the time? I know you don't because we live together and talk about these things."

Her mom went quiet for a minute before she finally sighed. "In all honesty, I've never felt like I had to worry about Lucy all that much. Some of your sister's boyfriends have been odd, but they've always been guys that have complimented her well. You, on the other hand, seem to be attracted to guys that are exactly like you: type A personality, loudest voice in the room and basically somebody that you have to compete with instead of simply be with.

"It's why I'm cautiously optimistic about your future with Clark, and I'm not saying that to pressure or push, but just as an observation. I've never seen you look so comfortable with a guy so quickly since you started having serious boyfriends. You two really do compliment each other and according to Martha have clicked since day one. She told us how she visited your work not long after Clark was hired and you two got along like you'd known each other for years. From what I've seen, that hasn't changed. I think he's the kind of guy you've always liked but never noticed until now."

"And as far as Clark goes, Lois," Martha said, stepping forward a bit, "I've kept my eye on you two today while you were outside, and in all his time with Lana he never looked so comfortable with her as he does you. Part of that may be that he's grown up some since her, but I know that isn't all of it."

Lois swallowed thickly, keeping her smile plastered on. "Wow. That's a lot of information to take in." Considering he was her fake boyfriend, it was also somewhat stunning to hear. Kind of sad, too. Apparently she was better at faking a relationship than she was at actually being in one. What the hell did that say about her?

Her father came over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Sorry if this is all a lot to take in. You see why we were waiting until you went outside to talk now? You're not easily overwhelmed, Lois, but being told you look natural with another person can do it if you're not prepared to hear it. I know that when somebody first said it to me about being with your mother, I about jumped out of my uniform. Hell, I about jumped out of my skin.

"I know that you're not one of those people that can sit back and just let things happen, Lois. Goodness knows that I've never been an advocate of sitting back and waiting. But, if you're able to do that in this relationship, if you give it the time to grow naturally and don't try to force things, I think you'll really be pleased with the way things turn out."

Exhaling through pursed lips, Lois smiled at her dad before walking over to the sink and dumping out the milk that was in all likelihood now warm. Grabbing the gallon out of the fridge, she poured another glass and gave everybody a tight smile. "Well, this has been fun. Remind me to stay out of the room, or at least keep my mouth shut, the next time you three are in a room together."

Walking out the backdoor, Lois made her way over to where Clark and Chloe were still sitting. Lucy was nowhere to be seen and Pete, Gabe and Benny were still out of sight. Placing the glass of milk in front of Chloe, she took a sip of her water as she sat down. "We're doing a bad thing, Clark." She didn't look at him when she spoke, instead choosing to let her eyes focus on the fields around them. "We should've never done this."

"Well there's some talk that sounds familiar. What brought this about?"

"Oh, you know, the fact that my mom thinks I've never looked so natural with a guy so quickly in my entire life. There's also the fact that apparently you're the kind of guy I've always liked but never noticed. My dad thinks that if I sit back and let things happen, I'll really enjoy the results. Of course, Martha thinks that you never looked as comfortable with Lana as you do with me, so it's not just my parents that like how we are together."

Lois looked over and watched as Clark's mouth opened and closed a few times, his eyes seemingly stuck wide open. "Yeah, that about sums things up. Imagine wanting to do that while having to smile at people as they talked about what just happens to be your fake relationship. It sucks."

Chloe leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on the table as she looked at them. "Let me see if I have this straight: you two have entered into a fake relationship, one that neither of you thought could actually ever happen. As such, you've fooled all three parents into thinking that this has the potential to be the best relationship either of you has ever been in, possibly taking it all the way to 'to have and to hold' and making what could quite possibly be the most curious and inquisitive children ever?"

Lois nodded, unable to pull her eyes away from Chloe as she considered the insanity of what her cousin had said. "Yeah, that about covers it."

"I knew this was the dumbest idea I'd ever heard. I _love_ it!"

--

Cradling her face in her hands, Lois groaned and fell backwards onto the bed. Martha had asked her if she'd wanted to stay at the farm, and not knowing how to say no she'd ended up saying yes. That had been the cherry on top of the crap sundae that had been her day.

Everything had gone... _perfectly_. It had been seamless. Nobody could tell that they were faking the entire relationship. Outside of Chloe, everybody thought that they were a couple. A very good couple. One everybody seemed to think had staying power. What the hell about her being with Clark screamed 'We're headed for the altar in the not so distant future!' or at least some reasonable facsimile?

Hell, even Lucy had approved and she'd thought most of her boyfriends had been dunces. Granted, compared to Lucy most people _were_ dunces, but the only people that seemed to be called dunces were her boyfriends. Her sister had always had an odd way of showing affection.

God, everybody was going to be unbelievably disappointed when they 'broke up' not long after her parents flew home. And they were going to blame it on her. She ALWAYS got blamed for the breakups in her life, no matter what had happened. This was going to be a doozy. She was going to hear about this from her mom after every breakup until she got married. "I know it was only for a couple months, but you had such a great guy in Clark. Why did you two break up again?"

This was going to suck.

Clark walked into the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Lois sat up again, staring straight ahead. "We're never breaking up."

"What?"

"We can never break up. We're going to have to be in this fake relationship forever."

The room was enveloped in silence for a moment before Clark spoke. "I appreciate the fact that you're telling me this now. It would have been a shock to find out in six months that we'd never broken up. The way things are going, we could have been living together and you'd have come and stolen my stuff to put in your apartment to sell it."

"This is serious! I'll never hear the end of it, Clark. This will be the relationship that I hear about until I actually get married, and if my mom doesn't like that guy I may just hear about it after thatཀ" Lois stood up and crossed her arms, spinning to face him. "We're just going to have to fall in love and become a real couple because I don't know if I can take it otherwiseཀ"

"Lois, it won't be that bad."

"_Your _mom is understandingཀ _My_ mom will have this increasingly stupid decision hanging over my head for the rest of my days as a single womanཀ" Lois started pacing, shaking her head. "I mean, if everybody thinks that we're such an amazing couple and we're just faking it, maybe we could be really good together as the real thingཀ" She stopped pacing in front of him. "Kiss me."

"What?"

"Kiss meཀ Press your lips to mine. Come on, this time instead of practice or putting on a show we can just do it for real. It's not like you haven't enjoyed kissing me. Hell, I felt just how much you enjoyed it every time we went for more than a minute over at Chloe's."

Clark stood up, his cheeks flushed and him looking like he had no idea what to say. "Look, I... what I mean is... I, uh... it's been a _long_ time... and..."

Lois slapped a hand over his mouth. "In the grand scheme of things, I'd be more insulted if you didn't come to attention, so to speak. If nothing else, it's reassuring that I haven't lost my touch. Now, we're going to kiss. For real. Deeply, passionately and intimately. I'll do my best to ignore any side effects in your groin region, all right?"

Removing her hand from his mouth, she gently pulled his head down until his lips touched hers.

--

Catching her breath, Lois ran a hand through her hair and blinked a couple times before looking over at Clark. Looking away again, she scratched at her forehead. "Didn't I say that I was going to ignore your groin region?"

"I do recall that, yes."

"Really glad I didn't."

"Yeah, me too."

Lois raised an eyebrow and looked over at him, finding that he was already looking at her. "Wanna do it again?"

Clark broke out into a grin and was quickly kissing her again.

--

"Huh. You guys found a way to top your dumbest idea ever in almost no time didn't you?"

"It wasn't supposed to happen, Chloeཀ I just... I don't know, lost my mind for a little while because I was thinking about the fallout from what my previous dumbest idea ever was going to cause. It was supposed to be a kiss, and then it turned into groping, and that turned into four times."

Chloe just stared at her with wide eyes for a moment. "_Four times_?"

"Yeah, that was why we looked like hell yesterday. We got like an hour and a half of sleep, and not all at once. I had to let Clark drive us back because I would have fallen asleep during the drive."

"What are you two going to do?"

Lois threw up her hands, knowing no better way to express herself. "I don't know. Perry setup an interview for us this afternoon with some guy at STAR Labs named Dr. Jayne, who is claiming to have figured out time travel. It's bullshit, but whatever. I guess we'll talk then."

"But, it's 11a.m. You two haven't had time to talk today?"

Lois shook her head. "As of yet, no. Clark's had some errands to run and I've been ignoring the situation as best I could by researching the doctor. We're meeting in front of the building to take a cab over to the interview."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that."

"Thanks a lot."

--

Waiting in front of the Daily Planet building, Lois let her heel bounce as she checked her watch. She was trying not to be impatient, and there was no danger of them being late for the interview, but she wanted him to get there so that they could finally talk things out. Was 'finally' the appropriate word considering the fact that they'd slept together all of a day and a half ago?

This was a disaster. A mind numbing, insides melting, _oh my God_ disaster.

Closing her eyes, Lois couldn't help it as the memories of that night popped into her head with extreme vividness. Who the hell would have thought that Clark Kent, perpetual clumsy goofball, was some kind of sex genius? Some of the things he'd done, some of the places he'd... no, that was a bad, BAD road to go down.

Forcing her eyes open, Lois spotted her erstwhile lover walking down the sidewalk towards her, straightening his tie before pushing his glasses up high on his nose. He smiled for a second before stopping next to her. "Hey."

"Hey. How'd your errands go?"

"Uh, good."

Digging through her bag, Lois pulled out a folder and handed it to him. "The information on Dr. Jayne."

"Oh, ok. Thanks." Clark looked around for a minute before looking back at her. "Well, I should probably read this before we get there."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll wave down a taxi."

Walking to the curb, Lois rolled her eyes at the unbelievably awkward position that she'd allowed herself to be put in. Sticking out her hand, she watched as a few cabs drove by before one finally stopped. Stepping inside, Clark followed her while still reading the file and closed the door with a loud thump as he sat down. Eyeing him for a second, Lois shook her head then told the driver where they were headed.

The whole ride there was silent. Clark had finished reading everything she'd found halfway there and had looked like he'd wanted to say something half a dozen times, and she'd thought of trying to start a conversation about what had happened at least that many times, but they'd both chickened out. Lois was about ready to jump out of her skin by the time they were getting out of the cab and heading into STAR Labs.

As she walked through the hallway, her heels clicking against the floor, she could barely hear Clark's steps as he followed her to the elevator. Running a hand through her hair as she walked into the elevator, Lois turned as the doors closed and watched as floors flew by until they got where they were going. Walking out, she quickly found the lab that they were looking for and knocked on the door a couple times before walking in.

"Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Miss Laneཀ Mr. Kentཀ" A man walked into her line of sight from her left, grinning wildly as he offered a hand out to shake hands with her and Clark. "I'm so glad that I was able to convince your editor to send you down here. This is... well, I made it workཀ They said it couldn't be done because of the energy requirements, but _I_ did it."

Lois nodded smiling and trying to be friendly despite the fact that she thought the guy was just going to turn out to be eccentric. "Well that's why we're here, Dr. Jayne. How about we get this demonstration going?"

The man nodded, motioning for them to follow as he walked back into the lab, making his way around piles of stuff that lay strewn about. Lois couldn't imagine what some of the stuff might have been, had it ever been anything.

Dr. Jayne stopped suddenly, grabbing something off the table and looking at it a moment before tossing it back and continuing on. When they finally got to the back of the lab, the doctor pointed at two large metal pillars, grinning wildly once more. "Here it is."

Pulling her recorder out of her bag, Lois hit the record button before speaking. "Dr. Jayne, how exactly does your time machine work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?"

Never having had much luck with sciences of that nature, Lois shook her head, but apparently Clark knew something. "The basic principle of wormholes is that they take two points and create the shortest distance, a straight line, between them. The name literally comes from the example of a worm boring through an apple to get from one side to the other instead of going around the outside."

"Correctཀ Rudimentary, yes, but as you said that is the basic principle of it. Taking years of data and research, I studied them until I went cross-eyed. From that, though, I figured out how exactly to create one without draining the world of its power reserves."

"And how exactly can you do that?" Lois asked.

"Dark energy."

Lois frowned, having heard the term before but not being entirely familiar with it. Once again, Clark picked up the slack. "Dark energy? You actually figured out a way to harness it?"

Turning back to Clark, Lois raised an incredulous eyebrow. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"I, uh, had some interest in the intricacies of space when I was younger."

"And the mystery that is Clark Kent continues to grow." Turning back to Dr. Jayne, Lois smiled. "Sorry about that. Please, continue."

"It's quite all right. I was as shocked as you are, Mr. Kent, when it worked. Needless to say that this has the potential to solve all energy problems in the world, though I'm not entirely certain how safe harnessing it is yet. No ill effects on me, though, so it appears to be good."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lois said, moving a little closer to the scientist. "What is dark energy?"

"Dark energy, Miss Lane, in basic terms is what causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. We didn't even know it existed twenty years ago. If the whole world used it for power, nobody on Earth would be without electricity and it wouldn't even qualify as the proverbial drop in the bucket."

"Could you develop a way for that to be done?"

The man worked his jaw for a moment before shrugging. "It's possible. The way I've done it here isn't feasible for mass use, but if I brought in some of my colleagues I'm sure it could be done."

"Wow, good day for science," Lois muttered. "All right, Dr. Jayne, why don't you fire this sucker up so we can see some time travel."

"Yes, good idea. Best to get to the nitty gritty."

--

Resting her head on her hand, Lois slapped herself with her other hand, waking up a little bit as a result. Looking over at Clark, she noticed that he was eyeing her. "Something I can help you with?"

"Tired?"

"I'm still recovering from Saturday night, Clark. Sitting here waiting for the world's slowest time machine to power up is in no way keeping me attentive and awake. Not to diminish what Dr. Jayne has done if this thing actually works, but if he could have created a wormhole generator thingy that worked in a few minutes instead of over an hour I wouldn't have to slap myself."

She saw Clark swallow, and he bounced on his toes a couple times before he finally said something. "We haven't really talked about what happened Saturday night, have we?"

"I think we've actively avoided it."

"Yeah. What... what..." Clark groaned. "What can we do to make things less awkward?"

"I have no idea, but..." Lois trailed off as Dr. Jayne walked over to them, smiling. "It should be firing up any minute now. What year would you like it set to?"

Lois looked at Clark, who just shrugged, so she answered the question. "1989. Twenty five years ago seems like as good a time as any to time travel to should this work out."

"Oh, it will work, Miss Lane. I've already been back to 1982."

Standing up, Lois noticed a glow encompassing the metal pillars before speaking to the doctor. "You went back in time? Why to 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I'm a bit partial to it."

The glow around the pillars increased with each second, Lois watched it a second before turning back to Dr. Jayne. "Stupid question time: I'm sure you've worked this out, but how is one supposed to come back to the present without your big honking metal pillars here between which to create a wormhole?"

"Ah, yes." Pulling a backpack out, he handed it to her. It was hefty, but not overly so. "What I'm powering up now is the big, impressive version. What's in that backpack is the same thing, but streamlined so that one can carry it along for the trip. Otherwise it would be a one way trip, and that would kind of defeat the purpose of time travel."

Suddenly there was a loud crack and the room lit up brightly. Pulling out her sunglasses, Lois slipped them on and saw that there was a large, swirling vortex between the pillars now. Shrugging, she looked back at Dr. Jayne. "You say you've done this, and it's safe?"

"I've been to 1982 three times and have yet to notice any ill effects."

"Good enough for me." Turning back to Clark, she hefted the backpack onto her shoulder and grinned. "You ready to do this?"

"Lois, this may not be the best idea."

"If we always did what was the best idea, I never would have had numerous orgasms the other night. See you in the past, Clarkཀ"

Getting a running start, Lois launched herself into the light.

--

Landing on her feet, Lois slowed herself down after a few steps and stopped before running into anything. Pulling her sunglasses off and stuffing them in a pocket, she looked around and saw that everything that had been in the lab wasn't there anymore.

There was a crack behind her and Lois moved out of the way as Clark went stumbling past her, smiling as he plowed into a table and stopped. "Very smooth, Smallville."

Turning around, he frowned at her. "I'm sorry that falling out of wormholes knocks me a little off balance." He took a moment to look around the room. "Seems it may have actually worked."

"We'll see. Come on."

Making their way through the building, they went outside and stared at the city. Lois spoke first. "Well, going on looks alone it appears we're in the past."

"True. We need to find something with a date on it, though, to be sure."

Making their way down the street, they both kept an eye out for things that could have dates on them. Not too far way they found a newspaper dispenser, and after digging out a quarter from her pocket Lois popped it into the machine and pulled out a paper, letting the little door slam shut as she checked the date. Eyebrows rising, she looked at Clark.

"I'll be damned," she said, smiling and slapping the paper to Clark's chest. "We're in 1989ཀ"


	6. Chapter 6

-- Chapter 6

"Ah, the 80's. Bands with hair so big and platinum I'm surprised that extra terrestrials never spotted us. But, they did make some _good_ music." Lois grinned at Clark, all awkwardness from the previous Saturday that technically hadn't happened yet forgotten. Thinking about the date she'd seen on the paper, something about it tickled the back of Lois' mind. "October 17th, 1989. Why does that date sound familiar?"

Still looking at the front page of the paper, Clark shook his head and shrugged. "I have no idea, Lois. I can't believe that actually worked."

"Me either, but disbelief can wait. Where should we go first?"

"Go? Seriously?"

Lois raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "What, you want to go to 1989 and then go straight back to 2014? Come on, Clarkཀ This is the coolest thing you will do, like, _ever_ཀ You already jumped into the big swirling vortex of light; don't tell me you're going to chicken out now."

"Well... what I mean... damn itཀ"

Lois almost took a step back in shock at hearing Clark Kent make such an exclamation. "Clark, you heard what Dr. Jayne said. The return device will send us back to five seconds after we left, so it'll be like no time has passed."

"Five seconds is a lot of time when you have responsibilities, Lois."

"What responsibilities? Your work is your responsibility, and you're here, doing your work. Dilemma solved."

Clark tossed the newspaper into a garbage can without looking, never moving his eyes from hers. He swallowed visibly before rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "This is probably the worst time ever to tell you this, so to speak, and I should have told you before anything happened between us. I just got so caught up in what was happening Saturday night and as much as I've complained, I've really enjoyed being your boyfriend while around your parents."

Lois felt like she should have a response to that, but didn't really know what to say. He was enjoying playing at being a couple? Should have told her what? "Huh?"

"I, uh... I'm... God, Chloe's going to kill me."

"You wanted to tell me Chloe's going to kill you? I mean, if it comes to blows I can always protect you, but still..."

Clark waved his hands at her and shook his head. "Noཀ I mean, she's going to kill me after I tell you what I have to tell you."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we're in 1989 and she's all of two years old right now. Of course, this is assuming you stop stuttering and tell me this apparently life threatening worthy news of yours."

Clark inhaled deeply, standing up straight. Since he rarely did that, she thought it looked a little odd on him, though strangely familiar.

"I'm Superman."

Lois fell into a coughing fit, having been swallowing when he'd spoken. Apparently saliva liked to go into her lungs when Clark was telling her the craziest thing she'd ever heard. Doubling over, Lois waved off Clark and turned her back to him, though in this position she realized she was more precisely turning her butt to him. Figuring he'd seen that enough during their night together, she turned around once more and straightened out, regaining the ability to breathe normally.

"What?"

Clark loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the large 'S' Superman was so well known for. Pulling off his glasses, Clark disappeared from sight for a second before reappearing, though in his place was the hero she'd almost come to worship and had most certainly lusted over for the past three months...

...and that was how long Clark had been her partner.

God, she was the biggest idiot in a world full of idiots that couldn't tell Clark Kent was Superman because of a pair of glasses. Superman didn't wear a mask because he wanted people to see his face and trust him, he'd said, but apparently Clark Kent wore a mask, even if it wasn't one that covered his face.

Jesus Christ, she'd had sex with Supermanཀ

She'd dreamed about it. She'd _fantasized _about it. Now it had happened and she could barely spare it a minute of thought because she only knew it had happened because Clark had told her that he was Superman... in 1989ཀ She'd always wanted to live an exciting life, a life worth living, but for the first time in the life she so loved it seemed that things had gone just a little too far towards nonsense. A flying alien the saves people? She could handle that. Time travel? There's a flying alien that saves people, so why not? But her mild mannered partner being the flying alien that saves people and telling her that little detail while in the past?

Yup, her life had fallen into ridiculousness.

She stood there silently, trying to come to terms with what exactly was happening in her life. Was this real? Had her want for Superman become so overwhelming that she'd started dreaming that Clark Kent was Superman, just so she could delude herself into thinking she'd had him? That she'd ridden him like...

No, that was a bad place to go right now. Plus, that really would be ridiculous. If there was one thing she could count on, it was the fact that she would never let her mind delude her into thinking something that wasn't. Well, it wouldn't intentionally do it, anyway. There would probably always be a wacko with a mind control device out there somewhere, just waiting until the right day came to scramble brains all over Metropolis.

Why the hell was she thinking about that? How did it possibly matter _at all_ compared to what she'd just learned about a man she'd recently slept with? Man alive...

"Lois?"

Blinking, Lois' vision became focused again and she looked up to find Clark in his business suit again. "What?"

"You've kinda been standing still and staring at nothing for the past few minutes, and I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't shocked you into some waking coma or something."

"I'm sorry, was I taking too long coming to terms with the fact that _you're Superman_? Am I not allowed to have some time to process a couple words that more or less change everything that I know about you, about Superman and all the small details I missed that could and would have told me that same news?" Lois crossed the distance between them in a couple steps, poking him in the chest. He fell back, but she knew now that he only moved because he wanted to. "_Is my little bout of silence making you uncomfortable?_" she asked through gritted teeth.

Clark's mouth opened and closed for a moment, apparently finding no words to go with the motions it was making. He kept backing up as she kept walking towards him, her finger no longer making contact with his chest but not getting very far from it. Suddenly Clark fell backwards into a sitting position on a bench she hadn't noticed was there, but it served the purpose of stopping him. Her finger still pointing at him, she moved it so that it was hovering just in front of his nose. He went cross eyed looking at it for a second before she saw his eyes focus on hers once more.

"You drop the bombshell of all bombshells on me and... what? You expect me to get all loud and annoyed and work everything out in a couple minutes? As simple as it would make life, that's not my answer to everythingཀ Things that make me loud and annoyed are stupid people and fluff articles that take away from my real investigations. This whole situation doesn't fall into those two categories, though you're dangerously close to being categorized under stupid.

"Seriously, why couldn't you tell me this? I know that we've only known each other for three months, and yeah, this is a pretty damn big secret, but did you think I was going to go to press with it or something? I may be a ruthless journalist but I do have a brainཀ Nobody would leave you alone if they found out your identity. You'd have to find a place to live so remote you'd be naming a moose Bob just so you had somebody to talk toཀ"

"What?"

Lois pushed her finger onto his nose, onto _Superman's_ nose. "You know what I meanཀ"

"Moose named Bob. Got it."

"I wouldn't do that to you, and I would have made sure that nobody at the Planet did it to you, either. Damn it, Clark, I could have helped you with thisཀ You didn't have to do it aloneཀ"

Clark was silent a minute, his eyes never leaving hers. "I didn't."

"What do you mean you didn't? Who helped you?"

"Chloe."

Suddenly all the times Chloe had covered for Clark, telling her that he'd had an errand to run or had forgotten something at home while she'd been left to wonder if her partner had any memory at all, slammed into her mind. "Did you tell her so she could help you?"

"No. She, uh... she found out about my powers while we were in high school through some odd circumstances that I imagine she's told you bits and pieces of. You know about all the meteor infected people from Smallville, right?"

"Of course."

"One of them found out about my powers and showed Chloe what I could do. She actually thought that I was one of the meteor infected until an incident in the arctic proved otherwise."

"So Chloe's known about you and your powers for how long?"

Clark's eyebrows scrunched together for a second before he answered. "Nine or ten years. You'd probably be able to get an exact date out of her."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because I really care about knowing the exact date my cousin found out about your powers and heritage. For Christ's sake, Clark, I can't understand why you wouldn't tell me about who you really areཀ"

"Lois, Clark Kent is who I really am. Superman is what I do."

"You know what I meanཀ"

"You need to understand the difference, Lois. This is who I am, right here. I help people because I can, and Superman is a necessary part of that. He's a bigger than life icon that makes people believe that hope is still out there. That's something Clark Kent couldn't be. Clark Kent is the adopted son of a farmer and his wife, people unable to have children of their own. Do you really think that would have the same impact? I don't.

"Superman, though, is Kal-El, the last son of Krypton. He was sent to this planet so that its inhabitants wouldn't come to the same end as Krypton's. It's so out there that if there weren't a living, breathing alien flying around the city helping stop murders and getting cats out of trees people would think it was something out of a children's story or a comic book.

"Superman is something that has to exist, Lois. He's a persona I have to affect, though all the details I just talked about are true. He's hope for people, and for earth. _I_ am just Clark Kent, though. That's all I can be. Nothing more, nothing less."

Lois couldn't tear her eyes from his. He looked like he was silently pleading for her to believe what he'd said, and she was inclined to believe him. Everything he'd said about Superman being an icon of hope was true, because she'd written about the same thing. "Why didn't you just tell me, Clark?"

He ran his hands back through his hair, his eyes still meeting hers. "I wanted to keep you safe. You're in so much danger as it is, being the one that gets saved by Superman so often while getting the occasional quote from him. If anybody were to think you had any idea who Superman was in daily life the amount of danger would grow exponentially, especially if word got out. People won't care if you say you don't know. If the possibility exists, they'll latch onto it."

Clark paused for a second and heaved a sigh. "And I... I'm selfish. I got caught up in the way you looked at me when I was Superman. I knew you'd never look at the real me, at Clark Kent like that, no matter how much I wanted you to. No woman has ever or would ever look at Clark Kent like that, not with the way I have to act in public to really sell the difference between him and Superman. It's intoxicating. My drug of choice, really. I knew that once I told you it wouldn't happen anymore, though, so I chickened out."

"Your two reasons," Lois said, "are that you wanted to protect me and you got addicted to the unrequited lust in my gaze when I looked at Superman?"

Clark nodded, and Lois about blew her top. "Are you fcking serious? Those are the biggest damn copout reasons you could have possibly usedཀ 'I wanted to keep you safe'," she said, imitating his voice. "That's the best you could come up with? That and my wanton looks?"

Clark nodded once more, this time accompanying it with an audible gulp. Lois felt like hitting him. Maybe it would release some of the pressure she felt building up inside her. God, he had pushed her into wanting to physically harm him as a form of reliefཀ She wanted to smack him around a bit upside the head, maybe kick him in the shins just to put home the fact that she was really unhappy with him. Unfortunately, that would just end up hurting her, as she now knew. But she had to do something to get rid of the built up tension.

Leaning over, Lois kissed Clark. Hard.

Not breaking contact with his lips, Lois moved her body onto his lap, her legs straddling his, so she could wrap her arms around his neck and make sure his ridiculously amazing lips never left hers. Her tongue pushed into his mouth, eliciting a moan from both of them a second later. When she found herself starting to grind against a very pronounced lump in his pants, and how she did that on a bench she would never figure out, she pushed herself off of him and let her body thump down next to him, a different kind of tense and needing a different, yet oddly similar, kind of release.

Sucking air in through her nose with deep breaths, she looked over at Clark, who was simply staring ahead with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. "Don't read anything into that. I needed a release."

He closed his mouth and looked over at her, one eyebrow quirked. "Funny, I feel the same way now."

"Oh, hey, I'm glad you can crack jokesཀ"

"You _use_ me as a release for tension, basically dry humping me without having the common courtesy to even ask if I mind, and I don't get to crack a joke?"

"I was releasing tension YOU created. That means I get to use youཀ"

Clark scowled at her. "Are there rules of tension release that nobody ever told me about? If there are, I really want to read them because with all the tension you've caused me in the past three months with your exploits you owe me, like, eighty-three tension releases."

"First of all, that number is a gross exaggeration. Secondly, my _exploits_?"

"Yes, your exploitsཀ I've had to rescue you from being a hostage six times in three monthsཀ That's insaneཀ I've stopped at least a dozen bullets headed your way, used my heat vision to disarm twice as many men pointing a gun at you and tried to figure out exactly what you've gotten yourself into innumerable times, so eighty-three? A LOW number. I should call it an even hundred."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Before you did the stupid innumerable thing, you were only at forty-two. To some, it's the meaning over life, the universe and everything. To you, it's the number of times you get to use me."

"You can make it sound as bad as you want to, Lois. You started the using thing, so I'm just playing by the rules."

Quiet engulfed them after that. Lois didn't know what else to say, and she certainly didn't want to keep going on the topic of being used sexually. She was still recovering from using him, if the ache low in her stomach was any indication. Plus, remembering the other night... Lois exhaled through clenched teeth, rolling her neck a couple times. With a discrete glance, she noticed that Clark had yet to fully recover from the encounter either, so at least she wasn't the only one on the bench that currently wanted to rip off clothing and go to town. She'd just had to kiss him, not to mention give the street a show and almost make Clark need a new pair of pants. Fortunately, it didn't seem a lot of people passed through this part of town in 1989.

Clearing her throat, Lois came to a decision. She sighed and looked over to Clark. "Thank you, for telling me that you're Superman. I'm glad you trust me with that."

"It was never an issue of trust, Lois."

She smiled at him, the corners of her mouth turning up before she looked away and surveyed the city. "You wouldn't happen to know what time it is, would you?"

Clark looked at his watch, then shrugged. "If we arrived at the same time we left 2014, then it's now 4:53 here."

Lois shook her head, trying to remember what it was about the day that kept tripping her memory into thinking something had happened. It had to have been a major news event to be registered in her memory, as most of the things in there were. Pushing it to the back of her mind, Lois stood up. "Come on, Clark. It's time to explore."

"Could you give me a minute?"

Lois rolled her eyes, but hid a smile by not looking at him. "Clark, I'm the only one here and have seen your penis, so I really don't care if it looks like your pants are pointing which way we're walking."

"Ahh, understanding. You've heard of understanding, right?"

Lois turned around and crossed her arms underneath her breasts as Clark's voice trailed off. "Come on, Clarkཀ I don't care, and if people happen to see you're pitching a tent they'll understand because you'll be with me." Lois offered a hand to help pull Clark up as a gesture of goodwill, and when he took it she pulled. When he was up, she attempted to let go, but was pulled into his body. He leaned down and kissed her, pulling away a moment later and leaving her breathless. Looking up at him through heavily lidded eyes, she saw he was smiling.

"That's one."

Lois sucked in some air and attempted to collect herself so she didn't moan or squeak her answer. "One what?"

"One of eighty-three. You have eighty-two left."

Suddenly she was swept up into his arms and the world around her turned into a blur, going back to normal a second later as she was put down. Blinking a few times, Lois found that the world around her now looked more like the walls of buildings than the relative open space of where they'd been. "Since money has changed how it looks between '89 and 2014 I figured it'd be less hassle, not to mention quicker, to super speed us here instead of catching a cab."

"Right, yes, good idea," Lois said as she attempted to pull her loose hair into some semblance of order. It was times like these that she missed her ponytail days. Giving up, Lois figured that at least she'd have some big hair, if nothing else of the fashion. "Shall we explore?"

He smiled at her. "We shall."

Walking out of the alley, Lois looked up at the buildings and immediately recognized where they were. "Why'd you bring us to this part of town?"

"No reason. Figured it was as good a place as any to start exploring a city we both know very well."

Craning her neck, Lois looked up at the gleaming globe atop the Daily Planet building. Apparently it didn't lose any shine in the next 25 years. "Say, you want to go see Perry when he was younger?"

"Nah. I doubt he'll be any different, except maybe his hair will be less gray, and there'll be more of it."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I say we walk for a little while."

Walking side by side on the sidewalk, they made their way down the street towards the Daily Planet building. Stopping in front of it, they looked at each other a moment before shrugging and heading inside. They found a mounted television in the lobby of the building, much as there was in their time, but it was a lot smaller and much less flat. Apparently the news right now was the World Series.

"Lois, I think I know what it was about today you couldn't remember."

She looked over at him a second before looking back at the television. The feed from the coverage went fuzzy for a moment before going to an ABC sports logo. "What just happened?"

"The Loma Prieta quake of '89."

Lois ran a hand through her hair and exhaled loudly. "I _knew_ there was something about todayཀ Damn, why couldn't I remember that?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to go help."

Her head snapped up and she grabbed his arm before he could get away from her. "You can't."

"What? Why not?"

Lois pulled Clark off to the side, away from the people gathering at the TV to see what was going on in San Francisco. "Because it's 1989ཀ Aside from the fact that Superman doesn't exist, if you change things you're going to create an alternate realityཀ Haven't you ever watched Back To The Future?" Seeing the look on his face, Lois reached out and grasped his hand with hers. "No buts, Clark. You can't help this time." She smiled at him. "Trust me, all right? As much as it hurts to have to stand by while things happen, you can't help this time. I wish you could save all the people that die there today, but it's not in the cards. I'm sorry."

"It's just..." Clark sighed. "What if somebody I save cures cancer? It's unlikely, but possible. Just makes you think, ya know?"

"I do now, Clark."

He smiled at her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. They walked out of the building, still holding hands. For some reason, it didn't feel strange to her, not like it had when they were pretending in front of everybody. That was a means to an end. This was... intimate. It was meant to be comforting for him, and in turn ended up comforting her. Why was it she was drawing comfort from being with Clark?

Surrounded by the din of heightening rush hour traffic, they made their way down the street in a companionable silence, simply enjoying each other's company while taking in the sights of their city as it once was. People were in all sorts of neon colors, some of them making Lois cringe and stare equally at what could prompt a person to wear such things. Different times and different styles, of course, but how did people not go blind looking at all this stuff?

A few blocks later Lois looked around and spotted a grocery store, stopping as they reached it. "I'm starving, Clark. Why don't we go inside and get some food?"

"Do you have a 20 from 1989 or before?"

Pulling out all the cash she had, Lois inspected the bills for a moment before frowning. "No." Digging in her pockets and through her money, Lois pulled out all the coins. Giving them a look, her face lit up. "Fortunately, I have old quarters and other coinageཀ" Digging out all the old coins, including some from the early 90's that looked the same as the others, Lois found she had 2.37 available to her.

"All right, Clark, we have a little money. Shall we go in and find something cheap?"

Clark nodded. "All right."

Heading inside, they made their way through a few aisles before she stopped in front of bags of chips. Scanning all the selections, Lois looked over to Clark. "Anything you're partial to?"

"Good taste."

Rolling her eyes, Lois grabbed an enormous 1.50 bag of Ruffles, which would have run four or five bucks in the future, and turned back towards the front of the store when she spotted the way was blocked by a couple families walking down the aisle towards them. Lois was about to turn back the other way when she spotted some of the faces.

"Oh hell," she muttered.

"What?"

Lois pointed at the people. "Any of them look familiar?"

A second later she heard his answer. "Oh hell."

"Yeah. What is it about us that screams we should have abnormal lives?"

"I don't know about you, but being from another planet? It's kind of what does it for me."

Running a hand through her hair, Lois noticed her mom doing the same thing as she and her dad, along with herself and a baby Lucy, as well as a very young Chloe, along with Gabe and Moira. Jesus, she hadn't seen her aunt Moira in a _long_ time.

Lois was going to let them pass by, but suddenly found that she couldn't help herself. Who in the world ever got to say that they went back in time and talked to their parents, besides fictional characters? Looking to her mom, who was holding a cigarette in her hand, Lois smiled and walked a little closer. "Hi. Do you mind if I bum a cigarette?" God, she'd hated it when people did that.

Her mom smiled at her, digging one out and handing it to her with a lighter. "Not a problem. My husband always likes when I give mine away so I can't smoke 'em."

Smiling, Lois stuck the cigarette in her mouth and lit it, inhaling. Oh God, that was good. It was going to be a bitch quitting this habit again, even if she only smoked this one. Blowing smoke out the side of her mouth, Lois nodded. "Yeah, I know how that goes. My boyfriend isn't too big a fan of these things," she said as she looked to Clark and back to her mom, "and I've certainly cut down since we got together, but it's just one of those things I can't seem to quit." Apparently telling her parents Clark was her boyfriend was the norm in ANY year.

Suddenly Gabe pulled out a pack and lit up a cigarette, surprising Lois. She didn't remember ever seeing him smoke. He smiled at her. "Eh, there are worse habits. Could be a drunk, out at all hours looking for booze. At least this is cheap. Dollar a pack lasts longer than a dollar a drink, at least if you don't chain smoke."

"Good point," her mom said. "See, Sam? Gabe agrees with me that there are worse habits."

"I still wish you'd quit, Ella."

Her mom smiled at him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Tell you what - I'll quit smoking when Gabe quits smoking. How does that sound?"

"Like I need to bribe Gabe to quit."

Gabe smiled, exhaling some smoke as he winked at Ella. "Looks like we've got a habit to fall back on for a while."

"I don't know, maybe I'll quit before I get too old and start getting those lines you see on old smokers around the lips. I think I could do without those. Superficial reason to quit, but as good a reason as any, I guess."

"Besides your health."

Lois's mom rolled her eyes, a gesture that made Lois uncomfortably aware of why her dad always said she looked so much like her mom. Being very close to the same age at this point, it wasn't difficult to see just how similar the action was in her mother. Deciding that it was time to get out of there, Lois smiled at everybody. "I appreciate the smoke. Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime and I can repay the favor."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Just in case, what's your name?"

"It's Lois." Crapཀ She couldn't say her last name because Lois Lane was sitting in a stroller right thereཀ "Lois Mackenzie." Mackenzie? Where did that name come from?

"Well Lois, it was nice to meet you. Maybe we'll see you around, and good luck with your quiet boyfriend." Her mom winked at her and waggled her eyebrows in a lascivious manner, which made Lois nine dozen kinds of uncomfortable, then walked away with all the others. What the hell had that even meant? Was there some 1989 lingo she was missing?

"What the hell was that, Lois?"

Grimacing, Lois took one last drag off her cigarette before exhaling the smoke and looking to Clark. "It was a spur of the moment thing. I wanted to see what they were like in 1989. Not exactly my clearest memories. Huh. How wild would it be if I remembered meeting myself?"

"Wild, and ridiculous. You could have changed something!"

"What could I have possibly changed?"

"We have no-"

--

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Clark nodded, stopped, then shrugged. "Sort of. Maybe. Kind of like the discussion we keep having with Perry over our article?"

"Not really what I was going for. Like, say you were to have a conversation with your mom, then have it with me six months later. It might tug at the back of your mind that you've had the conversation before but you can't remember when."

"All right, now I get it."

Lois smiled, leaning back in her chair again and resting her head back against it. Covering her mouth as she yawned, she rolled her shoulders to get some kinks out of them and settled back in for the work ahead. "On the note of Perry and our article, though, did he say anything new to you about it before he left?"

Clark shook his head, rubbing at his chin for a moment before pushing his glasses up further on his nose. "Not to me. Maybe he said something to Jimmy?"

At the sound of his name Jimmy snorted and lifted his head up off a nearby desk. "What said who about me?"

"Nobody said anything to anybody, Jimmy. Go back to sleep."

Three seconds later his head was down on the desk and he was snoring quietly. Lois looked over at Clark and smirked. "Nothing says dedication like falling asleep at midnight while doing research for a new article."

"In Jimmy's defense, he hasn't been drinking his body weight in coffee like you have."

Well, he had a point there. Since it was midnight, though, it felt like a time to say something ridiculous. "That a crack about my weight, Clark?"

"Yes, yes it is. You weigh an equal amount to the coffee you've drank today. I don't know how I could be more insulting."

"You could always sing."

Clark nodded, taking a swig out of his bottle of water. "Yes, there is that. I could sing my pseudo-insult, making it twice as insulting with half the effort, because everybody knows it's easier to sing than talk."

"That is true, yes." Rubbing at her eyes, Lois got up out of her chair, stretching as she stood. "Speaking of drinking my body weight, I have to pee. Do we keep this going tonight, or should we adjourn to morning?"

"One way or another it's still going to be distasteful, so I say we put it off for eight hours."

"Fair enough." Picking up a file, Lois frowned at the name on it, just like she always did. Chloe Sullivan-Luthor. She tossed it down onto her desk again and pulled her coat up off the back of her chair and her bag out of her desk. "You think we should wake up Jimmy?"

"Nah, let him sleep. He'll never get home, tired as he is."

"Very true. I'll see you tomorrow, Clark."

"Goodnight, Lois."


	7. Chapter 7

-- Chapter 7

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Lois took a sip and walked back to her desk, putting the drink down and looking over at Clark, who was situated in his chair and staring at her. "What?"

"You know, you've never once in our seven months of partnership offered to get a cup of coffee for me."

"I... what... so?"

Clark rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Nevermind. Where did we leave off last night?"

"We were going to go over all the history and facts once again." Taking a quick drink, Lois put her coffee back on the desk before rubbing her hands together and sitting back in her chair. "So, Chloe Sullivan-Luthor is my cousin. Until months ago I had forgotten that she was even related to me. My dad and her parents had a falling out when my mom died.

"The General always blamed Gabe for my mom not quitting smoking, and subsequently her death, because at some point the two made a deal that when one quit, the other would. Really it seems like misplaced anger, but you won't find me messing with that. He never talks about it, but the one time I got him to say something I think he mentioned that it stemmed from them talking with a couple strangers in a grocery store. Random happenstance at its worst, I guess. That was... 1989, if I have my facts straight.

"As a result of that falling out, The General didn't want to talk to the Sullivan's, hear from them or even acknowledge their existence. After he sent Lucy to boarding school and we started moving from base to base, Chloe and her family faded into nothingness. As far as I could remember, I had no cousin named Chloe."

"I guess that would be my cue to start with the story telling."

Lois nodded as she sipped her coffee. "Right," she said out of the corner of her mouth.

Clark sat forward and rubbed at an eye before beginning. "Chloe and her dad moved to Smallville when we were in 8th grade. She was extremely smart and a lot of fun to be with. I got assigned to show her around the school, told her about my farm, showed it to her and we became fast friends. I introduced her to Pete the next day, they got along great, and things were good. Pete, Chloe and I became inseparable for about a year. When Lana and I started going out, they got along great as well.

"It took about six seconds with Chloe to figure out that she could do whatever she wanted to if she set her mind to it. She also had the ambition to go along with the mind, but had nothing to channel that ambition into. She tried the school paper for a few months, but got bored with it. Then Lex came to town."

Lois watched him as he pushed his glasses up on his nose before continuing his part of the details. "Right after Lex came to town, there was an incident between the two of us that resulted in him trying to be my friend. I gave it a shot, and we got along pretty well for a year or two, but Lex started doing things that I couldn't condone and I broke off our friendship. Chloe, on the other hand, did no such thing. She started spending less and less time with Pete and I and more and more time with Lex at his mansion. By the end of our senior year, she'd basically stopped talking to Pete and I because of our stance on Lex. She'd become a loner at school, not even talking to Lana anymore, who'd never said a bad thing about Lex, saying it was her decision to associate herself with whomever she wanted.

"After graduation, Chloe moved to Metropolis and went to Metropolis University, double majoring in business and economics with a minor in computer science. I'm not sure what happened in the three years it took her to graduate with honors, but when she did she was given a position at LexCorp. It didn't take her long to work her way up the ladder, reaching the position of Vice President of Operations before marrying Lex and running the company with him.

"In her personal life, she and Lex were rumored to be in a relationship as early as 2006, around the time of her 19th birthday. They didn't ever confirm that there was a relationship until four years ago, when they announced their engagement. The wedding was the social event of 2012, or so I'm told by the fashion editor."

Lois rolled her eyes. "I get that you don't understand what fashion has to do with anything, but we can't skimp on the details. So, after all the wedding hoopla, she and Lex stay out of the public eye for a while. They resurface eight months later to announce that she's four months pregnant. They have a boy, Logan Gabriel Luthor, on December 18th, 2013. She's been quoted in last year's November _Vogue_ magazine saying that she'd like to have another baby. That was two months ago."

"I'm still not sure what the point of that interview was, even having read it six times."

Lois finished off her cup of coffee, setting the cup down on her desk before scratching at her arm and cracking her neck. "The point was to say the magazine had landed an interview with Mrs. Lex Luthor. She's not only a huge business name, but a big name in the fashion world, too. Chloe gives like, four interviews at most a year, and people all over the world know who she is and what the Luthor name means. Something like that lands you monster sized sales numbers for at least one issue. You know what sales mean in the print media business, even if it is just for one month when it comes to magazines. Plus, she knew she would get fluff questions from _Vogue_. What hardball question are they going to ask, who her favorite designer is?"

"I take it you have no interest in such a question?"

"Of course I don'tཀ Who cares about that? You land an interview with Chloe Sullivan-Luthor, hell _any_ Luthor, and you don't throw softballsཀ I don't care if you're writing for _Vogue,_ _Reader's Digest_ or _Fit Pregnancy_, which are her three most recent interviews; you ask her tough questions that make her thinkཀ How can you call yourself a journalist if you don't?"

"They may call themselves writers."

Lois glared at Clark, watching as he withered a bit in his chair. Crossing her arms over her chest, she rocked back and forth in her chair for a moment before speaking again. "So, all that stuff aside, let's get back to the history and facts. We go back in time a little bit to when you got back from your 'travels'," she said with air quotes, "back in July."

Clark winced. "I still can't believe you figured everything out."

"Yeah, because I was going to be fooled by a pair of _glasses_. On with the details."

"All right, so, I get back and unveil to the world Superman. You figure things about him out, making my life both more and less difficult at the same time, and then I find out about Chloe. After high school I lost track of what she was doing, and find that she's now married to Lex and has a son. Total departure from the Chloe I once knew. Recently, we start hearing rumors from LexCorp sources that Chloe's got a pet project in the science division that the company's namesake doesn't like but can't seem to make go away."

"And that brings us to the present, where we're trying to figure out what the hell it is Chloe's doing that annoys Lex so much. Obviously she can't have totally succumbed to the curse of the Luthor name and all that it means if she's doing something like this."

Clark laughed, though Lois thought it sounded forced. "Yeah, obviously you don't understand the dynamic of the Luthor family as well as you think you do."

"Please, enlighten me."

"How things worked between Lex and his father was, more or less, a no frills upbringing with all the frills of money at his use. When I say that, I mean no frills in that Lionel rarely, if ever, showed much affection to Lex, instead telling him what a Luthor should be and do. He raised him to be an heir more than as a son. He may as well have been a kid plucked off the street, the way Lex used to describe it, except that a kid off the street wouldn't have had the same expectations placed on him.

"By the time Lex came to Smallville, they were playing a game of one upmanship, Lex always trying to prove to his father that he was good enough. When Lionel closed down the Smallville LuthorCorp plant after Lex's first year there as a lesson, Lex made his first attempt at starting LexCorp by reopening the plant under that name. It didn't work, obviously, but things just ratcheted up from there until Lionel's death not long before I left Smallville to do my training. Even though nobody has ever been able to prove it, I don't know that I'll ever be convinced Lex didn't do it. In the Luthor world, it would be the ultimate way to win."

"_You_ thinking the worst of someone? He who brings hope to the masses? Wow, he must really be a lost cause."

"Lex had a chance," Clark said, his face darkening. "He could have chosen to rise above the influence of his father, try to fight the darkness that had built in him over the years. Instead he embraced it, quite possibly delving even deeper into it than his father ever did. The things that we've found in companies owned by LexCorp, that are run by him but not in a direct way that allows us to put him away... Lionel always wanted to push the envelope for the sake of LuthorCorp. Lex wants to tear the envelope, then tear another one just for the hell of it."

"And not only that," Lois said as she continued from where Clark had left off, "but he has a partner in crime that seems to be willing to do exactly the same, maybe for the same exact reasons. The kicker is that I'm related to her, and couldn't have told you that until I remembered I had a cousin named Chloe Sullivan not long after you got back."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think that Chloe has any idea that she's related to you. She never talked about family during our time as friends, at least not going any further than to say her mom had abandoned her and her dad had done his best to be there for her over the years since said abandonment. I guess her father adopted a policy much the same as yours, never acknowledging that you and your family existed."

"I just find it difficult to believe that I am related to somebody able to be involved in a company so heinous, not to mention married to a man that probably devises most of the heinous things his company undertakes. And, of course, if reports are to believed, she's gotten into something that Lex doesn't like, which either means she gone way off the deep end or is actually doing something that would be good for the world. Since the latter seems like it's more or less impossible at this point, that leaves the former. I mean, what the hell could be done that Lex would find in bad taste?"

"I don't know. All at once I wish I already knew and never had to find out. I wish that I knew what had happened to the Chloe I once knew, though. I wish I could have saved her from falling into this whole situation by finding a better way to live her life."

Lois scoffed, running a hand back through her hair as she once again noticed her coffee cup was still empty. "If you're going to go there, Clark, then I wish that we had been given the opportunity to know each other. Maybe my presence in her life could have made a difference. Who knows what could have happened? Unfortunately, though, I think we're all where we're supposed to be. Not in like a fate or destiny type way, but I believe that people have things in their lives that they're supposed to do. You, for example, are supposed to help people. I, in turn, am supposed to make sure that people don't fear what you do."

Standing up, Lois let loose a resigned sigh. "Unfortunately, I think another thing I am supposed to do is keep Chloe from making life on this planet of ours worse. Seems you're wrapped up in that, too. Maybe it could have been different, who knows, but we have to deal with what is and not what could have been." Grabbing her cup, Lois frowned at what she'd just said before looking at Clark. "That's everything, right?"

"More or less, yeah."

"Good. I'm going to go get some coffee."

Walking away, Lois thought she heard Clark sigh but shook it off, not really caring what it was about. Getting to the coffee pot, Lois poured herself some, covering her mouth as she yawned with her free hand. After taking a sip of her drink, she walked back to her desk and put it down, sitting down in her chair and biting her lip for a second. "Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think drove Chloe to be where she is?"

Clark looked a little confused for a second before making a face and answering. "I really don't know. Like I've said, she had a lot of ambition. It was evident from the first minute you met her that she wanted to do something with her life. She was never going to be 'one of those people that didn't make a difference' as she used to put it. I think when Lex presented opportunities to her to do things that would make a difference, she justified it in her head that the ends justified the means. She was probably in so deep she couldn't see her hand in front of her face before she knew what was happening.

"Of course, this is all just speculation. I have no idea what goes on in her head."

--

Reading over some figures, Chloe glanced up at the man standing in front of her. Her assistant was nondescript at best, but at least he stood quietly. The last one had insisted on speaking whenever he felt like it. "What?" she asked quietly.

"Your 9:30 meeting asked to be pushed back an hour to allow him time to finalize his presentation."

"No. If he can't be ready on time, his proposal is a waste of my time. Cancel it. Anything else?"

"Mr. Luthor wanted me to remind you-"

"I don't care what Lex wants. If he thinks it's important, let him tell me himself. Is that all?"

"One more thing, Mrs. Luthor. Lois Lane and Clark Kent are requesting an interview with you next week. If you accept, they said any hour and location is open to them. Shall I give them the standard response?"

Chloe rubbed at her forehead a second. How in the world had it happened that a cousin she'd never gotten the chance to know had ended up the partner of her one time best friend and sexual fantasy? She hadn't talked to Clark since, what, senior year? By then she had outgrown his 'Aw, shucks' tendencies and completely gotten over her sexual fantasy of him. Well, maybe not completely. He'd always made a good image to fixate on when she had to finish herself off after having sex with Lex. When she couldn't decide on any particular celebrity's image, anyway.

Pursing her lips, Chloe scratched at her ear while going back to staring at the figures she'd been reading a moment. "No, I think this is an interview I want to do."

"Are you sure?"

Chloe looked up, glowering. "_What_?"

The man's eyes widened, as if he'd just realized what he'd said. "I, uh, I mean are you sure you have time? Next week is your family vacation to the Alps."

"If they want the interview, they're going to have to do a little work for it." Of course, when they told their editor that they had an interview set up with her, the Daily Planet would cough up the money to fly them over for the day, if nothing else.

"Is there a specific day that you want to do it?"

Chloe thought a moment. "Two o'clock, a week from tomorrow."

"Yes, Mrs. Luthor. I'll set it all up immediately."

Her assistant left her office and Chloe sat down, finishing up with the figures she'd been reading and sitting back in her chair contemplatively. The team of Lane and Kent had been the hot ticket in Metropolis almost from its first day. Until she'd done some digging on each of them, she hadn't realized that Lois Lane was her cousin. She'd had vague memories of a cousin that was a year older than her, but that was it. She'd been quite surprised at that little turn of events.

Clark, though, was a blast from the past. She'd always pegged him for staying on the farm to raise 2.3 children with some skinny brunette. If it hadn't been Lana, she'd always thought that he'd have found somebody else to obsess over. She'd gotten tired of dealing with that obsession quickly. She understood that he had the girl next door fetish back then, and Lana had been kind of cute, but she'd never understood why he'd been so gung-ho about having to make it work.

She hadn't thought about any of that nonsense in years until Clark had surfaced out of nowhere, almost literally, getting a reporter's job at the Daily Planet. When he and his partner had started making big splashes, Chloe had decided to do a little background on each, to learn more about the background of Lois Lane, who'd been a terror to corruption and plight without Clark Kent, and see what Clark had been up to since high school.

The fact was that he had disappeared for years, placing maybe two calls a year to the farm for six years until suddenly he'd appeared in Metropolis, a journalist at the Daily Planet. It helped that before he'd disappeared he'd graduated from Central Kansas with a degree in journalism, doing the work in just a few years. But then nothing. He'd gone off the grid, more or less, not writing articles or doing anything that could bring attention to where he was.

The only way she'd been able to trace him was by having people go over every single call the Kent's had gotten after he'd left, and she'd figured out that the ones coming from the most random countries in the world were most likely him. She'd heard of people traveling after graduation, but he'd certainly taken it to another level.

Then there was the fact that he was Superman, of course.

How more people hadn't figured that out was beyond her. Of course, most people hadn't watched him pop up places he shouldn't have been able to be for five years while in Smallville, doing inexplicable things to help people. And, not surprisingly, her husband was one of the dense majority, unable to put two and two together.

Shaking her head, Chloe sighed as she thought about Lex. He was an adequate husband, doing his marital duty when she'd wanted to have a baby, and she was sure that he would do it again now that she had put it out in the press that she wanted another child. He did love Logan, in his own demented, Luthor way that he'd always wanted to escape. He was better than Lionel, though, and at least able to say that he loved his son, if not mean it. Logan wasn't seen simply an heir to Lex, but something that he didn't quite understand, as if he couldn't contemplate _why_ he should love the little boy.

Love had never played a factor in her life with Lex. The only person in the world she loved was Logan.

To call theirs a marriage of convenience was to give marriages of convenience everywhere a bad name. From day one of their work together all the way back in Smallville, their relationship had been a partnership, plain and simple. Two strong minds working for the betterment of the world. Getting married had simply been a business transaction that furthered their partnership. They'd known one another for over ten years by that point and while they'd occasionally had sex for the sake of getting laid, it had been rumored that they were involved for numerous years.

They'd discussed it and come to the conclusion that they may as well play into the rumor. It was easier than trying to find somebody that understood the work they did, or at least didn't question what they did.

Of course, the matter of power had been in the back of her mind when they'd agreed to get married. When you marry Lex Luthor, you gain immeasurable power over things. She'd already been an executive in the company, but with the marriage she'd been able to take up a position on the board and start dictating how things should be done. Lex had a head for ideas, but had always lacked the sense to get things done correctly. His execution had historically been shoddy and transparent, to her at least, and that was not the way she liked things.

As such, she'd cleaned the place up. Notes from her time working her way up the ladder had helped immensely, giving her a clear view of who was and was not incompetent. She'd immediately fired the worst of the bunch, which had been no small number, and replaced them with smart people she'd seen in the company. Most of the people she'd replaced had been those with 'experience and loyalty,' according to Lex. She'd rather have brains in high positions than experience, and loyalty was made by promoting from within, not pulling in big names that sat on their assess because of their names.

Because of all her moves during her early days on the board, she'd gained no small amount of influence upon what was done within the company. She didn't have to fall back upon the brainless threats that Lex always used as a form of persuasion, though she didn't hesitate to do so when necessary. No, generally all it took for something to get done was a request, perhaps a reminder of why a person had a job. Subtlety was always preferred.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her office door. Looking at the door, she waited a second before answering. "Enter."

Her assistant walked in, hands clasped in front of him. Ever since the one had tried to kill her for supposedly screwing up the environment, she'd made it a rule that no assistant could hide his or her hands from her. She wouldn't be fooled by hands behind the back again. Unconsciously, she started rubbing the scar on her thigh that was a reminder of her rule.

"What?"

"I told Miss Lane and Mr. Kent that you were willing to meet with them a week from tomorrow at 2p.m. in the Alps mansion and they agreed. I also gave them your usual terms: no recording devices, a mandatory security sweep of their persons before entering the room with you and no questions about your son."

Chloe nodded. "Good." She paused a moment as she watched her assistant turn to leave and stopping him. "One more thing." He stopped and turned around, waiting silently for whatever she said. "Place a call to Steven Street for me. Tell him I need an up to date in depth background on Lane and Kent, and I need it by 3:30 tomorrow afternoon."

"Right away, Mrs. Luthor."

Sucking on her lip for a moment, Chloe spun her chair and pushed herself up out of it, crossing her arms under her breasts as she looked down at the city of Metropolis. _Her_ city. She'd made it so the company owned half the city and had influence over most of it, taking the very good business of LuthorCorp and turning it into the almost unrivaled greatness of LexCorp. Only Wayne Enterprises and Queen Industries gave LexCorp real competition. She was one to give credit where credit was due: Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen were savvy businessmen. One day, though, she would make it so LexCorp was the one true business power from coast to coast.

Smiling slightly, Chloe turned around when she heard the door to her office open. Only two people had permission to enter without knocking, one being Logan's nanny and the other Lex, who rarely made use of that privilege. As such, she found herself looking at the nanny with Logan in tow. Motherly concern came over her as she wondered why they were there. "Is something wrong, Anna?"

"Logan has his doctor's appointment this morning, Mrs. Luthor. You said two days ago that you wanted me to stop by and remind you so that you could attend."

She rubbed at her brow for a moment, remembering she'd said that. It was a good thing she had. Walking over, she knelt down and found Logan napping in his stroller. She smiled at his sleeping form for a moment before standing up again. "Right. Good thing I thought ahead. How's Logan been this morning?"

Anna smiled, glancing down at the one year old before looking back up at her. "His perfect angelic self, Mrs. Luthor."

"Anna, you live in my house and take care of my son. How many times do I have to ask you to call me Chloe?"

"I've been taking care of children for thirty years, Mrs. Luthor, and have never been able to grasp the use of first names with my employer. I apologize if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, no," Chloe said, walking over and grabbing her coat off the coat rack she had in the corner. "If that's how you do things, it's how things should be. I'm just glad that I could get somebody of your experience and credentials to take the job."

Anna smiled at her and tilted her head in that motherly way Chloe had become accustomed to. "You're a Luthor, Mrs. Luthor. You could have had virtually any nanny you wanted, employed at the time or not. I must say again that I was and am flattered that I was your first choice."

"You're the best in the business, Anna, and I wanted the best for my son." There was a knock on the door, which was followed by Lex walking inside, hands in pockets. Chloe watched him for a moment, reading his body language before looking back to Anna. "I'll be out in a couple minutes. Why don't you two head to the car." With a nod, Anna left the room. "To what do I owe the visit, Lex?"

"I think you know, Chloe."

"What, you don't approve of whom I chose to do an interview with?"

Lex smirked, walking over and leaning back against her desk. "You can only imagine my surprise when I get word from our P.R. department that you agreed to an interview with Lois Lane and Clark Kent. You _are_ aware of their penchant for getting into things people don't want seen, correct?"

"Well aware. There's a public perception that we're unwilling to talk to real press, though, because you have your own personal media blackout going and my last three interviews have been in a fashion magazine, a magazine that skews towards older readers and a pregnancy periodical. I wonder why people think we're unwilling to face real questions? I'm smart enough to know what to say and what not to say, so letting one of the most well known teams in print journalism interview me isn't going to hurt anything."

"Isn't going to hurt anything?" Lex asked incredulously. "You do know that they've probably heard the rumors, right?"

Chloe shrugged. "So?"

"So why not do this interview at a time when people aren't saying we disagree on whether something should be done or not?"

"First of all, this is hardly the first time we've disagreed on how something should happen. Second, unless they actually _know_ what it is we disagree about, I don't give a damn what they think. Hell, even if they do know I don't give a damn. What we're doing is for the good of the world, Lex. If we don't do it this way, it doesn't get done."

"Your ambition is getting the best of you, Chloe." Lex walked over to her, looking down at her. "Damn it, what you're trying to do is massive, even for LexCorpཀ I still say we do it small scale, if we do it at all, and you know how odd of a sentence that is for me. It's the _smart_ way, though."

"Yeah Lex, because your way is ALWAYS the smart way. We either do this big or we don't do it at all." Chloe pointed up at him. "Where's that Luthor spirit, Lex? Where's that will to do whatever the fuck you want, everybody else be damned?"

Lex shook his head, backing away from her. "Why do you always ask me that?"

"Because ever since your father died you've acted like you lost your spirit to be boldཀ What, you lose your competition and you lose your taste for being on the edge? I've had to push you to do things for so long now that I think you've forgotten what it's like to have the initiative to do them on your ownཀ"

He didn't answer her, instead leaning back against her desk again and just glowering at her. She shook her head and pulled her purse off its hook. "And there it is."

"There what is?"

"The sulky little boy that just wants a hug from his daddy. It's your default look whenever we get into an argument. You'd think that you had something more invested in this relationship than you do, the way you get down when we fight." Chloe laughed mirthlessly, watching him eye her for a second. "Had I known this is how things would have been after I killed your father, doing something you _couldn't_ do, I think I would have let him live. You were more interesting when you had something that made you keep your wits sharp."

Chloe pulled on some gloves, waggling the fingers on each hand to get them comfortable before looking back at Lex. "I'll be ovulating next weekend, so keep your schedule clear. I would prefer to get pregnant sooner rather than later."

Without another glance, Chloe walked out of her office.

--

"I can't believe she's giving us the interview."

Lois rolled her eyes before locking them on Clark. "That's the third time you've said that since we found out she agreed to do it an hour ago."

"That's because I can't believe itཀ"

"Well, you have eight days to get over your shock. If you can't recover from this apparently shocking news by then, I'm doing the interview without you."

"Yeah, because that would go over well with Perry. He already thinks we both lack objectivity in this because you're related to her and she and I were once close friends. I'm not exactly prone to argue with him, either, because I know that I want to figure out just how she got to this point when she was once a very kind person. I'm also well aware of the fact that you want to figure out how somebody you're related to turned out to be the kind of person she is."

Lois frowned, looking back at her computer. After a moment of silence, she decided it best to continue the conversation with an admission. "I won't lie, Clark, that thought has crossed my mind on a not so infrequent basis since I found out we're related."

"Exactly. It's why Perry was against us starting to look into her, suggesting we look into LexCorp as a whole instead. At this point, I don't see how you can separate one from the other, but that may be besides the point in Perry's mind."

"Unfortunately, it's _exactly_ the point we're trying to hit on now. All evidence we've gotten from our sources this morning is pointing to her being the real power and driving force of LexCorp, so I want to figure out if that's true or not. Who knows? We could be blaming things on Lex that Chloe has perpetrated with or without his knowledge."

"Yeah," Clark said as he leaned back in his chair. "I guess we'll find out soon."


	8. Chapter 8

-- Chapter 8

Taking another piece of paper from Clark, Lois' frown deepened as she kept reading through the information they'd acquired. What they were reading was certifiable insanity in written form. "How could anybody think to do this? It's utter madness, not to mention that it can literally create utter madness." She tossed the papers on the desk in front of her, shaking her head as she looked up at her partner. "It's a hell of a day to be getting this stuff, Clark. We have to leave for the interview in twenty minutes since you can't fly us there and we have to drive."

"Yeah, I know. If nothing else, at least we can add this to our questions for the interview, though I can't imagine getting a straight answer, if we get one at all. The thing I don't understand is how they're going to do it. How do you dose an entire state of people?"

"I think that'll be a follow up question after I shove these papers in her face and ask 'What the hell are you thinking?'"

"I don't think that will entice her to answer."

Lois glared at him, seeing if she could use her eyes to burn a hole in his. It didn't seem to work. "I. Don't. Care. I'll throw her in a headlock and threaten to call Superman to toss her into orbit if I have toཀ"

"Well now you're just being ridiculous. Everybody knows Superman wouldn't do that. Chloe will just laugh in your face." Clark stretched out on the hotel room bed and laid back a little bit.

"Why are you even getting so worked up about this? You've never gotten so outwardly emotional about something LexCorp is doing before."

"Yeah, well, that was when I thought Lex was behind the atrocities and my cousin was just going along with it. With everything we've recently found and received to suggest that she's the one perpetrating these schemes... let's just say I don't like somebody in my family being involved in something like this, no matter if I know her or not."

Lois looked away as Clark sat up. She leaned over and rested her elbows on her knees, staring at the floor. She looked up when he reached over and pulled her chair over to the bed, where he'd moved to sit on the edge. "Don't do this to yourself."

"It's not something I try to do. It's just something that happens."

"You never even got a chance to know herཀ"

"It doesn't matterཀ" Lois met his eyes. "It's never mattered if I could or couldn't have done anything. I've felt responsible for what my family does my entire life. It's the way I was raised. The General told me the day after my mom died that what other people do impacts the way your life goes. From that day, I always felt responsible for what Lucy did, and I worked hard to see that she didn't do anything that would make people think poorly of her or our family.

"When I found out that I was related to Chloe Sullivan-Luthor, the thought of responsibility never entered my mind. But the more I've thought about things, how they could have been different if our families had kept contact, the more I've felt guilty about what Chloe's done. I don't _want _to feel this way, but when I look at what she's trying to do, I feel like it falls on me to stop her."

"It doesn't fall just on you. It falls on _us_. You and I, Lois, because we're team. We won't let this happen."

Lois smiled feebly before looking down at the ground again and taking in a long, deep breath. Exhaling slowly, she made herself calm down a little. She looked back up at him as she relaxed back into her chair. "It's probably good that I got that out of my system now instead of going off during the interview."

"I agree. To be in the position of power she's in, Chloe has to be very good at reading people and using their weaknesses against them."

"Well, this is definitely an interview to look forward to. I think afterwards I'll go find somebody to punch me in the stomach just to round the day out. That or maybe I'll go find some Swiss ski hunk and make myself feel better."

"If you're going to do that, you should do it with somebody you know."

Lois raised a quirked an eyebrow at him. "You propositioning me?"

"No. What I've wanted to do was ask you out on a date, but I can't seem to do that. I've wanted to say that we're great together as partners, and I think we'd be great together as more. Plus, you already know my secret, and I can't tell you how much of a positive that is. My discomfort with telling Mayson basically killed the fledgling relationship I had going with her." Clark stopped and shrugged at her. "I'll put it this way: if you're looking to have sex tonight, I'm available, though I would at least like to take you to dinner first."

Lois had to work her jaw for a second just to be able to close it. She'd never thought once about Clark and her doing anything like what he was suggesting. Reminding herself to breathe, she exhaled, but couldn't stop from staring at him. She found her ability to talk a moment later. "You... you're... why now? The timing could NOT suck moreཀ"

Clark grimaced a bit. "Yeah, I realized that as I was saying it, but my mouth kind of got ahead of my brain this time."

Well she couldn't exactly hold that against him, not with it being her perpetual state of being. Her mouth was almost always three steps in front of her brain, and her actions were generally even further away. All of a sudden her gaze went to his lips, and she wondered if he was a decent kisser. Eyes going wide for a second, she shook her head and banished those thoughts. "Look, Clark, let's put this out of our heads until after we talk to Chloe."

Clark smiled at her. "Probably a good idea." He stood up and offered a hand to help her up, as he always did. She took and let herself be pulled up. "Let's get started on the drive. We still have plenty of prep work to do."

--

Smiling, Chloe took one of the Cheerios off of Logan's highchair and popped it in her mouth, watching as he then duplicated her movements with a couple pieces of the cereal. Checking her watch, her smile fell and she sighed, realizing that she needed to go and get ready for the interview. She leaned over and placed a kiss on Logan's forehead. "I love you. Mommy will be back later, all right?"

He just picked up another bit of cereal and put it in his mouth, looking at her as he chewed. Chloe smiled at him one last time before walking to the door. Turning around, she blew him a kiss and gave Anna a nod.

"Mama!"

Chloe looked over at Logan, and saw that he was reaching for her as she opened the door. He'd started having separation anxiety and it killed her to have to leave him, but she had work to do. "I love you, Logan. Be strong. Mommy will be back later." Hearing him start crying as she left the room, Chloe steeled herself and schooled her features, setting her mind to the task at hand. Lois and Clark would be there in an hour or so, and she wanted to go over pertinent information one more time before seeing them.

Making her way through the vacation home that was only slightly smaller than their penthouse on the top two floors of the LexCorp building, Chloe walked downstairs and went into her study. Sitting down behind her desk, she picked up the files that had been given to her covering her long lost cousin and former friend. Just as she was about to start reading, there was a knock on the door. She tossed the information back on her desk.

"Enter." Lex walked in, causing Chloe to frown. "Something wrong?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure that you're aptly prepared for this interview."

Chloe picked up a file and waved it at him. "I was making sure that I was aptly prepared before you came in. I've done enough interviews to know how to prepare myself, Lex, and everything is in place, so why don't you go spend some time with Logan. You've barely seen him since we got here."

Lex nodded as he walked up to her desk. "All right. I'll keep him company while you're doing the interview and let Anna have an hour to herself. You still sure you want to do this?"

"I am. The world needs to see one of us do a real interview. Hell, the day that I can't handle a couple of reporters, no matter how world renowned their work is, is the day I retire and spend all my time at home like some sad housewife."

--

Following the security guard into the house, Lois handed over her purse to another guard that was holding his hand out. He started going through it, checking for who knows what as the other guard spoke.

"Open your hands please."

Lois did so, letting him get a look at them before he started slowly going over her with a metal detecting wand. He did each limb slowly, apparently wanting to be as through as possible. She rolled her eyes when he went slowly over her breasts, his eyes locked on her cleavage longer than his metal detector. She was handed her purse back, but upon inspection she found something missing. "Hey, what did you do with my phone?"

"It will be returned to you after the interview, Miss Lane."

"Are you serious?"

"Today's cell phones are capable of recording many things, the most obvious being conversations. As you know, no recording devices are allowed during the interview. You'll be able to pick it up here once the interview is complete."

Grumbling, Lois moved out of the way so Clark could get inspected. The man didn't take half as long to wand him and they were soon given guest passes and ushered deeper into the house. They were taken to a room on the first floor and shown inside, where they found Chloe sitting behind a desk, hands folded in her lap as she watched them enter. The door was shut behind them, but Lois didn't look back.

"Thank you for agreeing to the interview, Mrs. Luthor."

Chloe smiled. "Please, call me Chloe. We're family, after all." So, she did know. Lois watched her gaze float over to Clark. "Been a long time, Clark. I'm sorry that we couldn't keep our friendship going."

"I am too, but sometimes life just takes you in different directions."

The tension in the room was palpable. Lois just stood there next to Clark, watching as Chloe's eyes flicked from one of them to the other, surveying them. There was something in the way she looked at them, in the way she held herself that made her look like she thought this to be some small annoyance she had to deal with. She pointed at the chairs in front of the desk. "Please, won't you sit?"

Lois walked over slowly, sitting down as Clark held the chair for her. He sat down as well, pulling out a notepad and pencil. He was the reason she hadn't flinched when one of the stipulations had been no recording devices. In all their time together, Clark had never missed a word in one of their interviews.

Taking a breath, Lois got things started. "Well, I think that's enough of the pleasantries. Down to business. Subsidiaries of LexCorp in Metropolis have been accused and found guilty of an inordinate amount of violations, from dumping in the river to bribery of public officials. How do you think this impacts the public perception of not only your company, but the leadership that is allowing these things to happen?"

After a second a smile came to Chloe's lips. Lois thought she almost looked amused by what she'd been asked.

"LexCorp has hundreds of holdings, many of which are centered in Metropolis. While we own each company, each one is still its own entity. We can't account for every move of every employee in the entirety of LexCorp; it's not only unfeasible but impossible. If we tried, the strain on our personnel and resources would be immense. It's unfortunate that these things happen, and we of course in no way advocate doing things illegally.

"As for public perception, what people need to know is this: LexCorp always works towards the interest of all. We're a company that believes in doing things the right way, and if the public does disapprove of actions taken, they are free to let us know by writing or calling in complaints, or even using the simple method of not purchasing our services and products."

Lois eyed her cousin a moment before moving on to the next question. "You and your husband have hand picked many of the people running these subsidiaries. That's a matter of public record. When these men commit crimes, it's a reflection on your choice to put them in power. How do you respond to accusations that you put them in these positions to do exactly what they do, no matter the consequences?"

Chloe sat forward, leaning against the desk that was situated between them. "What is also a matter of public record is the fact that people are not always what they appear." She turned her eyes away from Lois and locked them on Clark for a second before turning back to her. What was that about? "We do extensive background checks on each person we put into any position of power. Unfortunately, that doesn't always reflect how they're going to act when in the job.

"In an attempt not to dwell on the negative, for each person that has betrayed the trust put in them, there are two or three that has done nothing illegal and been a good employee. The image of LexCorp gets tainted because of a few bad seeds within the company. I would ask that we not be judged based on the few, but on the whole. LexCorp is one of the most charitable companies in the world, yet that is very rarely played up in the press. We don't expect that this will change. We _do_ hope people are aware that when you think the worst of somebody or something, you generally get the worst in response."

Time to move on to bigger and better questions. "Recently, there have been people saying that the real power behind LexCorp is you, not your husband. What is your response?"

"My response is that I'm flattered, but it's categorically untrue. He and I are a team, but he's the driving force of the company and always has been."

"Then why hasn't he killed Project Medicina?"

"Project Medicina? I don't recognize the name."

Lois pulled a couple pieces of folded up paper out of her pocket and tossed them on the desk. She spoke as Chloe unfolded them. "We'd heard rumors that you two disagreed on something. Of course, we had no idea it was something quite so huge."

Chloe smiled and looked at the second piece of paper before looking at her. "You guys are good; I have to give you that."

"So let's run down your pet project. You want to dose the entire state of Kansas with a retrovirus designed to target meteor rock in the blood and eradicate it. Test results show that it's 98 percent effective. People don't even know they're infected. But results from the two test groups show something else: one percent are killed by it, and that last on percent goes totally insane. They lose who they are and have to be locked up. No cure. In Kansas, that's roughly thirty thousand people dead and thirty thousand insane, yet you plan to release it. How, when and most importantly: why?"

"Oh, I don't think you need to know that."

"We're taking this to the police, Chloe. You'll be locked up for years just for doing the tests, not to mention the intent to release a drug that will probably kill thirty thousand people. Hell, have you even tested the effect on animals? They could die at an even higher rate than humansཀ You could wipe out the entire ecosystem of Smallville, for all you know!"

"_Good_!" Chloe yelled as she jumped up out of her chair. "That whole town needs to fade away into memory and _never_ be resurrected! It's a pockmark not only on the state and country, but the whole worldཀ I'm going to make it so all the meteor freaks that come from there can't hurt anybody anymore."

Lois stood up, matching Chloe's posture. She saw Clark also standing of the corner of her eye. This part wouldn't be useful for the article anyway. "At the expense of tens of thousands of lives? Have you lost all sight of the value of human life?"

"The value of human life? Christ, you've been hanging around Clark too long. This is an epidemic, a mutation of the human genome that shouldn't have happened. It gets passed on from parent to child. It's going to spread. I know it's probably already out of the state, but that can be solved later. Right now, I have a chance to put a big patch on a problem that could contaminate the entire human race, and I'm going to see that it happens!"

Lois stared at Chloe for a moment before turning to Clark to see his reaction. From the shocked look on his face, she knew that he couldn't believe what he was hearing either. Apparently she'd become some kind of crazy, anti-meteor infected fanatic. Her partner would have mentioned that bit of information had he known it from their past. Clark looked back to Chloe, which made Lois figure he finally had something to say.

"Chloe, what happened to you? I know that we had some bad experiences with the meteor infected when we lived in Smallville, but that doesn't justify dosing the entire population of the state! You're talking about potentially breaking up families! What about your son? Are you going to let him be part of this?"

It sounded like Chloe growled at him before she answered. "Leave my son out of this."

"I'll leave your son out of this if you leave everybody else's sons and daughters out of it. We won't let you do this."

"Yes, you will."

"Why would we possibly do that?" Lois asked.

"Because Clark Kent is Superman, and a whole lot of people are going to find that out if you bring Medicina to light."

Lois had to control her breathing so that her heart rate didn't double. How the hell did Chloe know that? Clark had told her that he'd never told Chloe about his powers when they'd been friends. Stupid glassesཀ She'd told him he needed a better disguise, but when more people hadn't figured out that he was Superman she'd figured she was just that good. Apparently Chloe was just as good.

"He's not Superman, Chloe."

"Please. Glasses, Clark? I'm lucky the majority of people are ridiculously stupid or else I wouldn't be able to use it as blackmail."

And there was confirmation that he should've worn a mask. "Fine, but you don't have any proof that he's Superman."

Chloe reached behind her back and suddenly had a gun pointed at her. Lois heard two shots fired and flinched. Opening her eyes when she wasn't in immense pain and coughing up blood, not to mention just plain dead, she found that a smoking gun was still pointed at her, but nothing else in the room had changed. Straightening herself out, she had to hold herself back from jumping over the desk and pummeling Chloe. She heard the door open behind them.

"Is everything all right, Mrs. Luthor?"

"Everything's fine," Chloe said as she put the gun down on her desk. With that, the door closed behind them. "And now I have my proof, because unless my bullets simply dissolved as they were shot, the high speed cameras made specially to track the movements of Superman I have in this room will show Clark catching them before they can harm my dear, _dear_ cousin. So this is how things are going to work. You can print the useful parts of this interview and we have no problems. If there's any mention of Medicina, tapes go to every major media outlet. If law enforcement on any level approaches me, tapes go to every major media outlet.

"I'm not stupid. I know there's a good chance that I might one day go to jail over this because you won't let people be hurt by Medicina, no matter how necessary it is. But hey, if I go down I'm taking your secret identity with me, Clark." She smiled at them. "Have a nice day."

--

Walking into her hotel room with Clark following, Lois dropped her purse into a chair and flopped down on the bed. "We just got our collective ass handed to us. She knew exactly what she was doing and had a contingency plan just in case we threw her a curve ball, which we obviously did. If she weren't so damn despicable I'd be a little proud of my cousin."

Clark sat down on the bed, cradling his face in his hands. Lois sat up and after a second's hesitation placed a hand on his shoulder, attempting to impart at least a bit of comfort. "She's a different person, Lois. It's like I can't even recognize the girl I once called my best friend. There's nothing left of her. Physically she's barely changed, but mentally..." He trailed off, apparently not knowing what else to say.

"We'll figure this out, Clark. There's going to be a way to stop Medicina while not having your identity exposed."

"I'm not really worried about that, Lois. All the lives that are potentially in danger from the drug being released are far more important than me keeping my identity a secret. What I am worried about is the fact that we still have no idea how they plan to release it and if printing the article and alerting authorities will be enough."

"You think they might be able to do it anyway?"

Clark nodded slowly. "You said yourself how Chloe had a contingency plan for the interview. Do you think she hasn't thought of at least a dozen for something of this size? You saw the strength of her belief that this needs to be done, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's calling back to LexCorp now and setting plans in motion. We have to stop it, but I can't be everywhere in the state at once. There's no way to do it."

Lois moved to sit on the edge of the bed with him, turning his head with a hand and cupping a cheek with it. "I know that I give you a hard time about things, but you're amazing. If I hadn't figured out you were Superman, you have no idea how big a crush I would have on him." What? How did that help? "There's nothing you can't do. We'll figure this out."

--

"Lane! Kent!"

Looking up from her computer where she was typing up their interview with Chloe, she looked over and saw Perry standing in the doorway to his office. Saving what she was working on, she followed Clark over to Perry's office, heading inside and taking a seat. "What's up Chief?"

"How's the interview write up looking?"

"It's all right. We didn't get the chance to ask many questions, but what we got is more newsworthy than anything ANY Luthor has given the press in ten years."

"I didn't expect much, so if it's what you say it is we'll still sell very well. Plus, the way you two write can make the interview seem better than it was. That is always a plus. Given all that, I don't think there's a downside in an interview with Chloe Sullivan-Luthor."

Lois glanced at Clark, noticing that he was staring a hole in the floor. Of course, that might be literal, but she doubted it.

"Since you two are so good at what you do, as I just said and know you like to point out, Lane, I have a quick assignment for you. A Dr. Jayne down at STAR Labs claims that he has successfully found a way to time travel. He's been bugging me for a month to have you two interview him. Since I believe time travel is about as possible as me floating out of this office, I've been attempting to let him down gently. Now, I just want to be rid of him." He held out a file and Lois took it, tucking it under her arm. "That's some background. 3:30 this afternoon at STAR Labs."

"How are you holding up?"

Clark looked over at her, smiling a little before his face fell back into the perpetual frown he'd been wearing since their interview and subsequent confrontation with her cousin. "I've been better. I still haven't been able to find out how they're planning to do it."

"We'll do it, Clark. We haven't failed yet, and there's no reason to start now."

Lois waited for her partner as he paid the cab driver. They headed up the walkway, heading into the STAR Labs building. As she walked through the hallway, the sound of her steps against the floor echoing off the walls, she could barely hear Clark's steps as he followed her to the elevator. Running a hand through her hair as she walked into the elevator, Lois turned as the doors closed and watched as floors flew by until they got where they were going. Walking out, she quickly found the lab that they were looking for and knocked on the door a couple times before walking in.

"Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Miss Lane! Mr. Kent!" A man walked into her line of sight from her left, grinning wildly as he offered a hand out to shake hands with her and Clark. "I'm so glad that I was able to convince your editor to send you down here. This is... well, I made it work! They said it couldn't be done because of the energy requirements, but _I_ did it."

Lois nodded, smiling and trying to be friendly despite the fact that she thought the guy was just going to turn out to be eccentric. "Well that's why we're here, Dr. Jayne. How about we get this demonstration going?"

The man nodded, motioning for them to follow as he walked back into the lab, making his way around piles of stuff that lay strewn about. Lois couldn't imagine what some of the stuff might have been, had it ever been anything.

Dr. Jayne stopped suddenly, grabbing something off the table and looking at it a moment before tossing it back and continuing on. When they finally got to the back of the lab, the doctor pointed at two large metal pillars, grinning wildly once more. "Here it is."

Pulling her recorder out of her bag, Lois hit the record button before speaking. "Dr. Jayne, how exactly does your time machine work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?"

Never having had much interest in sciences of that nature, Lois shook her head, but apparently Clark knew something. "The basic principle of wormholes is that they take two points and create the shortest distance, a straight line, between them. The name literally comes from the example of a worm boring through an apple to get from one side to the other instead of going around the outside."

"Correctཀ Rudimentary, yes, but as you said that is the basic principle of it. Taking years of data and research, I studied them until I went cross-eyed. From that, though, I figured out how exactly to create one without draining the world of its power reserves."

"And how exactly can you do that?" Lois asked.

"Dark energy."

Lois frowned, having heard the term before but not being entirely familiar with it. Once again, Clark picked up the slack. "Dark energy? You actually figured out a way to harness it?"

Turning back to Clark, Lois raised an incredulous eyebrow. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"You can understand that I had some interest in the science of space as I learned some things when I was younger."

He quirked an eyebrow, and she caught on to what he was saying. Turning back to Dr. Jayne, Lois smiled. "Sorry about that. Please, continue."

"It's quite all right. I was as shocked as you are, Mr. Kent, when it worked. I'd hoped, but never expected, at least not so soon. Needless to say that this has the potential to solve all energy problems in the world, though I'm not entirely certain how safe harnessing it is yet. No ill effects on me, though, so it appears to be good."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lois said, moving a little closer to the scientist. "What is dark energy?"

"Dark energy, Miss Lane, in basic terms is what causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. We didn't even know it existed twenty years ago. If the whole world used it for power, nobody on Earth would be without electricity and it wouldn't even qualify as the proverbial drop in the bucket."

"Could you develop a way for that to be done?"

The man worked his jaw for a moment before shrugging. "It's possible. The way I've done it here isn't feasible for mass use, but if I brought in some of my colleagues I'm sure it could be done."

"Wow, good day for science," Lois muttered. "All right, Dr. Jayne, why don't you fire this sucker up so we can see some time travel."

"Yes, good idea. Best to get to the nitty gritty."

--

Resting her head on her hand, Lois slapped herself with her other hand, waking up a little bit as a result. Looking over at Clark, she noticed that he was eyeing her. "Something I can help you with?"

"Tired?"

"I'm still a little jet-lagged from flying back yesterday. Sitting here waiting for the world's slowest time machine to power up is in no way keeping me attentive and awake. Not to diminish what Dr. Jayne has done if this device actually works, but if he could have created a wormhole generator thingy that worked in a few minutes instead of over an hour I wouldn't have to slap myself."

"I've never had a problem with jet lag."

"Well aren't you Mr. Special?"

"Some would say so, yes."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Back when I traveled more I didn't have many problems with it. It's been a while since I traipsed to far off lands, though, so I've lost my ability to adjust myself accordingly."

"You're also older than you used to be, obviously, which may not help things." Lois stared at him for a moment, and it seemed that he finally realized what he'd said when his eyes went wide and he inhaled sharply as he turned to face her. "I didn't... I wasn't suggesting..."

"Older, Clark? _Really_? You of all people are going to point out a woman's age? I know that you're under a bit of stress, what with the Chloe situation, but I didn't think that you'd forget your small town proprieties."

Clark started stuttering again and Lois just broke out into a grin, making him frown. "Are you just messing with me?"

"Very much so. Since I am technically older than I used to be, though I'm nowhere near old, my body may just not react as well. I had already thought of it. But, ya know, thanks for giving me the opportunity for some cliché age-pointing-out fun."

"Anytime," Clark grumbled.

Dr. Jayne walked over to them, smiling. "It should be firing up any minute now. What year would you like it set to?"

Lois thought for a moment about what year she wanted to go to before an idea occurred to her. Checking her watch, she thought that it would be an idea at least worth trying. "Do we go back to the same time of day we leave from?"

"I can set it to a specific time, but if I just set it to a year, then yes, you'd go back at the same time you leave from."

That was even better. Checking what she was wearing, it was black, and Clark's suit was navy blue, which would work. "February 12,1993, at 4:15p.m. If this thing works, of course."

"Oh, it works, Miss Lane. I've already been back to 1982."

Standing up, Lois noticed a glow encompassing the metal pillars before speaking to the doctor. "You went back already? Why to 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I'm a bit partial to it."

The glow around the pillars increased with each second, Lois watched it a second before turning back to Dr. Jayne. "Stupid question time: I'm sure you've worked this out, but how is one supposed to come back to the present without your big honking metal pillars here between which to create a wormhole?"

"Ah, yes." Pulling a backpack out, he handed it to her. It was hefty, but not overly so. "What I'm powering up now is the big, impressive version. What's in that backpack is the same thing, but streamlined so that one can carry it along for the trip. Otherwise it would be a one way trip, and that would kind of defeat the purpose of time travel."

Suddenly there was a loud crack and the room lit up brightly. Pulling out her sunglasses, Lois slipped them on and saw that there was a large, swirling vortex between the pillars now. Shrugging, she looked back at Dr. Jayne. "You say you've done this, and it's safe?"

"I've been to 1982 three times and have yet to notice any ill effects."

"Good enough for me." Turning back to Clark, she hefted the backpack onto her shoulder and grinned. "You ready to do this?"

"Lois, this may not be the best idea. And why exactly are we going to the specific time you gave?"

"It's a surprise, Clark. See you in the past!" Getting a running start, Lois launched herself into the light.

--

Landing on her feet, Lois slowed herself down after a few steps and stopped before running into anything. Pulling her sunglasses off and stuffing them in a pocket, she looked around and saw that everything that had been in the lab wasn't there anymore.

There was a crack behind her and Lois moved out of the way as Clark came through the wormhole, stopping after a couple steps and looking around, much as she had. "Seems it may have actually worked."

"We'll see. Come on."

Making their way through the building, they went outside and stared at the city. Lois spoke first. "Well, going on looks alone it appears we're in the past."

"True. We need to find something with a date on it, though, to be sure."

Making their way down the street, they both kept an eye out for things that could have dates on them. Not too far way they found a newspaper dispenser, and after digging out a quarter from her pocket Lois popped it into the machine and pulled out a paper, letting the little door slam shut as she checked the date. Grinning, she looked at Clark.

"Perfect. February 12th, 1993. If it's as Dr. Jayne says, we landed here at 4:15, which means a couple minutes have passed now. We have a little time to explore before we go."

"Go? Go where?"

"My mother's funeral."


	9. Chapter 9

-- Chapter 9

Clark stared at her, appearing as though he couldn't believe what he'd heard. Truth be told, Lois was having a hard time believing she'd said it. Of all the ways she'd imagined her life going, she'd never thought she'd live a life where she'd be able to travel back in time and go to her mom's funeral. Hell, she'd never imagined _wanting_ to go through that again, but she had a goal to accomplish this time.

"What? _No_!"

Lois rolled her eyes. "We're doing this, Clark."

"We are not going to your mother's funeral, Loisཀ Not only is it beyond belief for you to want to go through that again, it runs the risk of changing things in the time line."

"Yeah, I know."

"What do you mean you know?"

"It means that I'm going to change things."

Clark stared at her again, though it didn't last as long this time. "What? _No_! Absolutely not, Lois."

Rubbing at her forehead, Lois started walking towards the city, leaving Clark behind her. She shouldn't have told him that she wanted to change things. Usually she hid things from him and he found out about her plans when Superman rescued her. It was a tried and true system. Why had she changed it in the year 1993?

After a moment Clark caught up to her, falling into step silently at her right side. Lois kept her eyes peeled, making note of things around them. She saw a few people that looked like they'd just crawled out of a Nirvana music video. She didn't have many memories of everyday fashion from this part of 1993, considering that she'd been, or was currently, six. Considering grunge was a fond memory for a minority of the population in 2015, she wasn't used to seeing it so embraced.

Covering a yawn as she walked, Lois used her free hand to adjust the backpack, shortening the straps some so that it wouldn't hang so low. She wasn't opposed to low hanging backpacks, but considering this one weighed about as much as her five heaviest backpacks ever, it was best to keep it tight and close to the body. She didn't need a backache while trying to change the future.

God, she was actually attempting to _change the future_. She was living the life of a character in a movie or television showཀ This type of thing shouldn't be possible, yet here she was, walking through her city twenty-two years prior to when she'd last walked in it. Of course, she should be less than shocked. She lived in a world where a man from another planet flew around the city under his own power and saved people, attempting to spread hope to the masses. And of course, that man from another planet was walking next her, probably thinking of some way to try and talk her out of changing the future. Fortunately, he'd never had any success with that sort of thing.

"What am I going to have to do to dissuade you from doing this?"

Lois glanced over at her partner for a second before looking back ahead at where they were walking. "You aren't going to dissuade me from doing this. The only thing that can keep me from getting it done is time, but I plan to avoid that little problem by using the Clark Kent express to make sure I'm at the funeral, which starts in..." She checked her watch. "... 38 minutes. Like I said, until then we have time for sightseeing. Well, I'd rather go straight there, but we don't have to."

"May I at least ask why?"

"Have you noticed what's going on in the world in 2015?"

"Please, refresh me."

"Things are a mess. My recently unknown cousin is threatening to release a retrovirus that could quite possibly cause one percent of the state's population to go insane and another one percent to keel over. The population of Kansas isn't that much more than three million, even with Metropolis in it. If anything in this scenario is a lucky break, that is. If we lived in the northeast, with the numerous population centers in close quarters we could be talking losses in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Where we live, with those two statistics we're still talking a potential of _at least_ sixty thousand people insane and dead.

"We have a moral obligation to stop the insanity, if you'll pardon the pun. Of course, by doing so we're more or less guaranteeing that you're going to be outed as Superman. Your life as Clark Kent will effectively be over. That's the last thing that should happen to somebody that has done for the world what you have. Well, technically I guess getting killed is the last thing that should happen, but this is second."

"Couldn't agree more, though if it had to happen to save people, I'd do it."

Lois looked over at him, smiling a bit. "And that's why you're the hero of the story." Looking back the direction they were walking, Lois stopped. Clark stopped after another step and turned to face her. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you, Clark."

"And I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Granted, you do your best to make me work to see that nothing bad happens to you, but I forebear."

"The point of this is, we're in something of a no win situation. We stop it, you get outed. We don't stop it, thousands die and we lose our status as people that should have any right to tell other people what's right and what's wrong. Hell, even when we do put this out in the open the chances of Chloe getting caught are slim to none. She's probably never coming back to Metropolis from Switzerland now that we've confronted her about Project Medicina. She'll move around Europe and stay in neutral countries where she can never be arrested. Ooooh, _big_ consequences for her actions there."

"That's something Superman could help with. I would clear going in and grabbing her with all proper authorities first, of course, but I find that world leaders always try to stay in the good graces of Superman. It's not that I wouldn't help out in a country that says no, but the threat that I wouldn't could be a powerful motivator."

Lois frowned a bit. "That doesn't sound like Superman."

Clark nodded back at her. "I know. I assume by that point Clark Kent will have been outed, so people will think that I'll be pissed off enough to do something like that. I'll just be using people's perceptions in my favor."

"Oh, well yeah, that's true." Lois nodded and started walking again. Clark caught up to her a few steps later.

"That doesn't mean that we need to change the whole of the future, Lois. If my identity has to come out to have a chance to stop Chloe's plan from happening, then I can live with that. I may have to build a fence around the farm to keep people out of my mom's hair, but it's doable and she'll understand."

"Let's see..." Lois held up her hands as scales as they walked. "Run the risk of tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands dying and going insane or avert everything before it happens by changing the past."

"Yes, and we of course have NO idea what will happen or how things will turn out. The 2015 that ends up happening instead of the one we've been in could be worseཀ We don't know and we can't know."

Lois raised an eyebrow, though she didn't look over at him. "So better the devil you know?"

"That's one way of putting it. More the reality I know than the devil I know, though. I figure one way or another there's going to be a Luthor in 2015, silently terrorizing. Who knows what could happen in a reality where Lex is calling the shots, if we even fix things so that's happening?" He stopped talking for a second before continuing. "What are you even planning to change?"

Lois exhaled, frowning. "I'm going to confront my dad."

"About?"

"About blaming Chloe's father for my mom's death. I'm going to make him realize that my mom died because _she _didn't want to stop smoking, not because somebody else wouldn't. I doubt that she even would have remembered the deal with Chloe's dad if my dad hadn't fixated on it as a reason for her to quit. Point being, he shouldn't blame somebody else for my mom not quitting.

"Now, in theory, if I can get that to happen I imagine that she and I will grow up knowing each other. As such, she won't end up turning into a version of Chloe that I really, REALLY want to go insane as a result of her own drug. Hell, we change this one thing and I imagine that life will be a whole lot better in 2015, or if not better will at least have less impending doom for you keeping your identity a secret from the adoring masses."

"Always a plus."

Lois nodded and stopped walking. "Now let's quit wasting time." Throwing her arms around Clark's neck, Lois jumped up and got caught. She smiled at him. "The church on 8th, please."

She almost heard him rolling his eyes before the world turned into a blur. A second later everything went back to normal, though everything around them had changed. They were between a couple buildings now, standing behind some large piles of boxes. She unwrapped her arms from his neck and he let her down onto the ground. Running a hand through her hair, which always seemed to suffer from trips at super speed, Lois straightened herself out before taking the lead and walking onto the street.

Looking around, she spotted the church off to her left. All the cars and people milling into it were a dead giveaway. Pulling the backpack off, Lois held it out, not seeing if Clark was next to her or not, and had it taken a second later. Clark stepped up, the backpack slung over a shoulder. "You going to be all right getting through this, Lois?"

Lois let her teeth grind together for a moment, taking a few deep breaths to steel herself against what was coming. She really should have thought of a better date to go to. Pulling her sunglasses out of her pocket, Lois slipped them on. "Yeah, I'll be all right. At least now I'll have more memories of the funeral than just the one of trying to keep my sister calm." With one last breath, she squared her shoulders. "Let's go."

Walking with a more purposeful stride than usual, which Lois felt was saying something considering how she generally tried to stride with purpose, they made their way down the sidewalk. The closer they got to the church, the more she felt tension gathering in her shoulders and neck. She could get through this. She'd been through so many things, so reliving her mother's funeral shouldn't be THAT bad. Probably. Hopefully.

Getting to the church, Lois looked over to Clark, who smiled at her. Hell of a time to be smiling, her mom's funeral. Sure, he was just attempting to be comforting, but why couldn't he just massage the tension out of her shoulders? He was really good with his hands, and she needed that more than she needed the smile right about now. She wanted helpful comfort, not symbolic 'I'm here for you' comfortཀ They'd been partners for 7 monthsཀ How did he not get this?

Not that she was being irrational for thinking he should know. Why wasn't mind reading one of his powers?

Steeling herself once more, she started up the steps into the building, making her way through a few people gathered at the door into the lobby. Taking a program from somebody she didn't recognize, Lois checked to make sure Clark was still at her side before walking over to an empty corner and situating herself in it, away from anybody that might recognize her. With her luck, somebody would try to see her and try to figure out how she was related to her mom. 'How did you know the deceased?' 'I'm her daughter from the future here to change things so the future doesn't suckཀ' Yeah, that wouldn't get her thrown into the crazy house.

All things considered, maybe she'd already been dosed with the drug Chloe wanted to release. Superman the flying intergalactic traveler and time travel? She certainly wouldn't have believed it could happen before Clark had come to town.

"Is there a reason we're standing in the corner, Lois?"

Lois waved her hands discretely at him. "Shhhཀ Don't say my nameཀ"

Clark leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. "Is there a reason we're standing in the corner... person I'm talking to?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "People here know Lois Lane. Lois Lane is a six year old."

"But I didn't say Lois Lane, I said Lois. Other people in the world have the name Lois. You don't get the name all to yourself."

"Look, I prefer not to draw any attention to ourselves. It'll be hard to explain how I knew her, what with the looking a whole lot like her. People will get confused when a woman that looks like she could be Ella's sister says that she was a friend from college or a second cousin. We'll go in, sit through the service, wait for people to leave and then I'll confront my dad, hopefully before he does anything that damages relations between the Lane and Sullivan families."

"You don't want to draw attention, yet we come inside and stand in the corner?"

"Oh, shut up."

Looking at the program for the funeral, Lois skimmed through what was to come. It turned out not to be so much a program as a little leaflet telling about her mom... wait, hadn't she seen this before? Biting her lip, Lois tried to remember where she'd seen these words before. Jesus, where was her dad when she needed him? He would know the answer, if not be reluctant to answer.

Oh yeah. He was somewhere in the church. Maybe she could ask him later after getting him to not ruin things, not to mention the future.

"May I see that?"

She held the leaflet out and Clark took it from her. "It's just a short biography about my mom. I'm trying to remember where I've seen it before, but it won't come to me."

"Maybe you've seen one of these flyers before."

Lois shook her head and rubbed at her neck. "No, I think I would remember that. This is going to drive me nuts if I can't remember it."

Going back to thinking about where she'd seen it before, it suddenly came to her. A couple years ago they'd found a diary of her mom's from not long before she'd died. Lucy had wanted to get some of their baby toys out of storage when she'd found out she was pregnant and Lois had met her there, going through the boxes. When they'd found the diary Lois had stopped going through stuff to read it, and that had been the last entry.

Her mom had written her own biography for her funeral. That was just, like, nine thousand kinds of cryptic. It also sounded like something Lois would want to do. Better she write it and have it sound good than leave it to somebody else to get screwed up.

She should probably trust people more. She should also probably remember that they were here for a reason and she shouldn't be letting her mind drift off to things that weren't exactly pertinent for what they were trying to do. Looking around, Lois noted that people were starting to head in and sit down with more frequency, so she decided they should do the same. "Come on, let's go sit down."

Heading in, Lois found an empty pew that was far enough back so nobody would take much notice of them but not all the way in the back where two random people sitting way away from everybody else would draw attention. This was the antisocial section, but not creepy unknown people section. A few minutes after sitting down people had stopped filing in. Hearing the doors, Lois looked back and froze. Her father was walking down the aisle, and there she was with Lucy, holding her hand and walking next to him.

Talk about surreal. She _remembered _that walk. She'd taken Lucy's hand before they'd come through the doors, hoping to keep her from crying as they walked. Her sister hadn't really known what exactly was going on, just that their mom wasn't around and she really wanted to see her. The crying had started a little while later, and while Lois had done her best to stop it, she'd been a sorry replacement for their mom. That hadn't changed as the years went on.

Pulling off her sunglasses, Lois put them down on the seat before folding her hands in her lap. God, this was going to be brutal. She swallowed, and suddenly had an arm around her shoulders. Not looking over at Clark, she moved over a little bit and rested her body against his. _This_ was a much better comforting gesture than the smile she'd gotten from him earlier.

Just then, the minister stepped up to the podium.

"Friends, family, we're here today to remember Ella Lane."

--

Wiping a tear off her cheek, Lois let her head rest against Clark. 'Time heals all wounds my ass,' she thought. The service was almost over. She just had to get through one last song being played before things would end and she could get to her father. Then she could talk to him, the future would change and this whole experience of going to her mother's funeral a second time would simply be something she'd done in an alternate reality that she would never have to remember.

Suddenly Garth Brooks' 'The Dance' came on over the speakers and Lois closed her eyes. She'd never had any interest in country music, to say the least, but this was one of the few songs she'd always known well. It had been one of her mom's favorites, not to mention it was about people that have died and how he wouldn't have changed things so as not to miss the events of his life. The irony was ridiculous.

She wanted to be strong. She liked being strong, because it kept her safe. Strength kept her safe from weakness. She didn't know how to be strong against this, though. Turning her face into Clark's chest, she allowed herself a couple muffled sobs before attempting to collect herself.

Damn, allowing herself those sobs had made it much more difficult to be calm and collected. She had to, though, or else this was going to take a whole lot longer than she wanted it to. Swiping at her eyes as the song finished, Lois sat up and smiled feebly at Clark, who attempted that comforting smile again. She still liked the physical comfort better. It was disturbingly comforting when he actually made an effort to be there for her.

"You ok?" She heard him murmur.

"I knew it was going to be tough to do this, but I now envy myself when I was young. I know I was only six and it may not have been the clearest memory, but being distracted by Lucy and not remembering the majority of this event was a blessing in disguise." In theory she wasn't going to have these memories long. Hopefully she'd be rid of them sooner rather than later, but having them was just about the most painful thing she could remember.

"I don't envy your situation, but I do envy your strength. To go through one of the toughest days of your life all over again... well, I don't know that I'd be able to do it. I imagine this is not unlike emotional torture."

"Something like that, yeah." Sighing, Lois scrubbed at her face a moment. She watched as the General stood up, her younger self and sister in tow as they walked up the aisle. She partially hid her face as they passed, burying it in Clark's chest. Distracted, Lois determined that if she ever just had a guy in her life whose sole purpose was to be there so she had a chest to bury her face in, Clark would get the job. It didn't require him to do much, but somehow he did it well.

Wiping her face across his chest, Lois pulled away and smiled up at him. "Thanks."

"Not a problem. I always like to use my sport coat to dry my own tears, too."

Lois smiled, almost against her will, before breathing deeply and shaking herself a bit. "So, time for the reception."

"Not the burial?"

"No, that was a family only thing before the funeral." Lois stood up and stretched her back and shoulders out. "The reception's in the basement. Let's just follow everyone down there."

"Weren't you wanting to stay incognito?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Just checking, because you have a penchant for not being incognito. Say, what do they have for food at the reception? I haven't eaten since morning in 2015."

Rolling her eyes but realizing she was hungry too, Lois picked up her sunglasses and stuffed them in her pocket as she made her way through the church to some stairs. They followed a few of the other stragglers to the basement, Lois doing her best to not draw attention to herself as she wiped away a couple residual tears. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure Clark was following her, which he was, before walking into the groups of people mulling about.

Grabbing a roll off the food table, Lois took a big bite and looked around the room. She didn't recognize most of the people, and those she did recognize were only vague memories come to life. She spotted herself sitting with her sister after a moment, a plate of food in front of each. After a second a dark haired woman was putting a blonde girl down next to her with some food of her own, and it struck Lois that it was Chloe. It had to be. How was it that such an innocent looking little girl could grow up to be such a monster?

Turning away from the scene Lois grabbed another roll as she finished off the first. She took a glass of water from a lady behind the table, smiling at her for a second before taking a sip and turning to Clark. He was also eating a roll, though his had been torn in half and had a piece of ham in the middle. She'd been too preoccupied to notice the meat.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"My thoughts are at least worth a dollar, Clark." That had been more a reflex answer than her actually paying attention to what Clark was saying.

"I was hoping I could get them at 1993 prices. I imagine they are cheaper now than they are in 2015." Clark grinned at her, causing Lois to roll her eyes before smiling a little bit at his goofiness. He could always disarm her seriousness when he needed to, or at least when she didn't mind him doing it. This was definitely one of those times where she could use a break from her own thoughts.

"Yes, Clark, inflation caused the price of my thoughts to go up in the ensuing twenty-two years. Unfortunately for you, though, I'm still charging future prices."

"Good thing I always keep cash on me."

The rest of the reception seemed to pass somewhat quickly, and Lois attributed that to the fact that Clark kept her distracted most of the time. They met a few people, giving fake names and saying that they were boyfriend and girlfriend and she'd known Ella in college. Since she knew some of the things her mom had done in college she'd been able to make it work without any problems.

Now if only she could get a few minutes alone with the General and change the future, she'd be all set.

She'd been watching him discretely throughout the reception as he spoke with people and only kind of paid attention to her smaller self, as well as her sister. Already it had been her job to take care of Lucy and make sure that she was ok. From the day their mom had died there had been a chain of command, no matter their age, and she was still young enough at this point to try and be a good soldier. By the time Lucy had been shipped off to boarding school Lois had been sick of it.

She took a sip of her drink as people drifted around the room, about half as many as were there at the beginning of things. She'd be more comfortable doing what she needed to do when more of them had left so she could be sure they weren't interrupted. Her dad was as stubborn as she was, so talking him out of blaming others for her mom's death wasn't going to be easy. It was going to take one hell of an effort, really, and in her life she'd never really gotten him to believe something he didn't want to, but maybe he'd be more pliant on a day like this.

A little while later, most people had left and her father was standing alone. Lucy had fallen asleep in her chair and her younger self was with Chloe, having run off to do something together. After a nod from Clark, indicating that he would run interference while she did her talking, Lois made her way over to her father. "Hi."

He looked over at her, and had she been somebody that hadn't grown up with him wouldn't have noticed the surprise in his eyes. After her mom had died he'd been stone faced, rarely doing much smiling, frowning or any other kind of facial expression. She'd had to figure out what every squint and movement of the eyebrow meant just to know what he was thinking most of the time. His nondescript answers to most things had rarely been any help.

The surprise, which she attributed to her looking like her mother, was gone a second later. "Hello."

She held out her hand. "I'm Zoe Reynolds. I'm really sorry for you loss. Ella was... well, she was Ella."

Her dad offered a tight smile. "I know what you mean. How did you know Ella?"

"We were friends for a couple years in college before drifting apart. We would still send a letter now and then until about a year ago, actually. I was in town on business and saw the announcement, so I took a couple days off to come to the funeral. I wanted to make sure that I got to give my condolences personally, too."

"Well, I appreciate that."

"How are the girls handling things?"

Sam eyed her for a moment, and she wondered if she'd gotten too personal too quickly until he answered. "Lois is all right. She's strong, stronger than she knows and probably stronger than she thinks she is, even if she is only six. She takes after Ella in the regard. Lucy's young, and all she really knows is that she wants to see her mom. I don't know how to explain to her that her mom isn't going to be around anymore."

"My mom died when I was young," Lois said, clasping her hands behind her back to stop from wringing them. "I was eight, and my little sister was four. She was kind of in the same boat as your daughter Lucy is. My dad didn't know how to handle two girls; my mom had always been the one to know what we liked and all that sort of thing. When she died my dad just kind of took a hands-off approach to child rearing, only telling us when we did something wrong, which was not an infrequent occurrence.

"I wish he wouldn't have done that. He had so much to offer as a father. I remember before my mom died, he was always smiling and happy. Afterwards, though, he kind of lost himself. When she died he was never able to move on, and still hasn't. I think my sister and I were reminders of her. He didn't even keep in touch with family. I recently got in touch with a cousin I didn't remember having, and I really wish that I could have known her my whole life because she's one of those people that makes an impact on the world."

"Look, I appreciate your story..."

Lois interrupted him. It was the only way she could avoid him closing down and walking away. "Ella told me about you. I know it will be tough, and I know it will hurt, but be a father to your girls. I know that you're a soldier, and that's what you know how to be, but be their father first. Ella may have known all their secrets and all their likes and dislikes, but you're all they have now and you have to be there for them. They need their dad, and they need their family. If... if you can't be what they need, then let them stay with somebody who can.ཁ

Sam goggled at her. "Who _are_ you?"

"Like I said, a friend of Ella's. We were very close, and while we didn't ever see each other anymore she wrote the details in our correspondences. I've been in the situation your daughter Lois is in." Boy, wasn't THAT the truth. "It's tough. She feels like she has to be a replacement mom for her little sister, and that's not a position anybody should have to be in. You're the only one that can save her from that, either by being a dad or making sure they're with people that make sure she isn't in that position."

"Are you suggesting I send my girls to live with other people?"

"I'm suggesting you do what's best for your daughters. I've been in this situation as one of the kids and it's rough. Make this as easy as possible on them. You can't just establish a chain of command and expect everything to work itself out. It doesn't work. If you can't be their dad instead of their general, then let them stay with people who can take care fo them. Moira and Gabe, maybe."

Her father's face soured, which was saying something considering his usual expression. "Gabe Sullivan is a bastard and the reason my Ella died," he growled.

"You're talking about the 'deal' they made, aren't you?" she said as she air quoted the word deal.

"If he'd have quit, so would Ella. But he couldn't be bothered to break himself of the God awful habit that cost me my wife, not until she was diagnosed with cancer, anyway. Once that happened he was more than willing to quit, and did."

"I know the circumstances are awful, but you can't blame Gabe for a choice Ella made. He didn't make her keep smoking, and if she'd really wanted to quit then she would have. Her deal with Gabe was just a fallback excuse. You know that, if not in your heart then in your head. You're angry at Ella for dying, but you don't want to be and you're putting that anger on the shoulders of others instead. It's not fair to Gabe to have all the blame laid at his feet. You know Ella would smack you upside the head if she knew you blamed Gabe for her death."

Her father shoved his hands in his pockets, frowning at the floor. "Yeah, she would have smacked me upside the head. She was never afraid to make sure that I did what was right." He looked over at her. "I appreciate what you've said. I needed to hear it, but I don't know who else would have said it."

Lois smiled. "It's too bad you, Ella and I didn't get to spend any time together. I think it would have been special, had we been given that opportunity." Just then Lucy woke up, and getting out of her chair walked over to Sam and held out her arms. He picked her up, and Lois smiled. "I'll let you guys be alone. Again, I'm very sorry, Sam."

Lois walked away, heading back over to Clark, who was sitting at a table and messing with his glasses. He looked over at her, looking curious as she sat down. "How'd it go?"

"I don't know. I think I got through to him, but you never know with Sam Lane."

"Well at least it won't-"

--

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois scratched at the back of her neck, frowning. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Clark turned his head to look at her. "Is this some sort of odd commentary on our sex life?"

Lois laughed at his confusion. "No, of course not Smallville. We've been together for a long time and I've never once had a complaint about our sex life. It's never been anything but amazing. Sensational, even."

Clark nodded and smiled. "Good, glad. If you were trying to tell me something about how the sex had gotten stagnant I was going to be all sorts of confused, considering ten minutes ago you claimed you were coming out of a sex coma."

"Ah, the sex coma. It's my favorite kind of coma."

"Of the kinds of coma you've had, it's the preferred kind of coma. It's also the most flattering for me to hear about." Clark paused a moment, then frowned. "If you could avoid the other kinds of coma forever I'd be grateful, by the way. It's very stressful for one to have to watch his wife be comatose."

"I'll do my best to avoid it, Smallville. I doubt it would be a great time for Casey or Ryan, either. Our kids are tough, but they do tend to take after their father in the moping department. Well, Casey does more so than Ryan, who might be a little young to mope properly at two."

Lois thought for a moment. "It still strikes me as odd sometimes to see a young girl that looks like me and acts like you, even though Casey is eight. Apparently eight years plus a pregnancy isn't enough time to come to terms with the fact that I have a daughter, not to mention a two year old son."

Clark smiled and leaned over, kissing her. He curled up behind her, pulling her body flush against his. "I love you, whether or not you ever come to terms with our having children."

"Love you too, Smallville. See you tomorrow." Lois snuggled a little closer, just for the hell of it, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

-- Chapter 10

"Come here, please."

"But..."

Lois crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at a sulky looking Casey. "Come on. You're not getting out of this."

"Why can't I just wear my normal clothes, mom?"

"Because it's picture day, Case, and if I let you go to school looking like you usually do your grandparents are going to think that I have no idea what's going on." Lois held out the dress in her hand once more. Really, she didn't want to make Casey wear it, but Martha had bought it for her and Lois didn't know of any other time Casey could be coaxed into wearing it. Coaxed, of course, meaning forced. "I hated dresses at your age too, but it's just for the school day."

"That's so long, momཀ"

"I know, I know," Lois said as she walked over to Casey. "But in the grand scheme of things, one day in a dress isn't going to hurt you and will score major brownie points with your grandma Martha, for you AND me. We don't really need brownie points, but they're always nice to have for rainy days. Arms up." Casey frowned, but stuck her arms up. Lois slipped the dress down onto her, settling it on her shoulders and straightening it out a bit before stepping back and inspecting it. It actually looked very good on Casey, whether she liked it or not. "You look good, Case."

"I look silly, mom."

"Well then I guess you're just going to have to look silly for the day. Now, if there's a little less complaining I _may_ be persuaded to take some of your clothes with me to work to give to your aunt Chloe so you can change into them when she picks you and your cousin Beth up from school this afternoon."

"I bet Beth doesn't have to wear a dress."

Lois rolled her eyes as she grabbed a hairbrush off the dresser and handed it to Casey so that her dark tresses would look presentable. "I bet you she does. Also, you remember what I said about the less complaining and normal clothes, Case?"

"You said a little less. That means I can still complain, just not as much."

"Your child logic is sound, but my parent logic wins the day. No more complaining, all right?"

When all she got in response was a huff and crossed arms, Lois shook her head and walked out of Casey's room. Maybe she'd overestimated how much like Clark Casey really was. What was much more likely was that she'd been like Clark but as the years went by, her inner Lois was starting to take over and rebelling against whatever annoyed her. In all likelihood, what annoyed her for a good long time was going to be her mother.

Running a hand back through her hair, Lois walked across the apartment and back into the master bedroom, heading into the bathroom to give her teeth a quick brushing. Finishing with that a moment later, she walked back out, grabbing her purse and turning the lights out in the room as she went. Getting to the dining room, she found Casey sitting at the table and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Where are daddy and Ryan, mom?"

Lois grabbed a banana and peeled it open, taking a bite and swallowing before answering. "Dad had an early interview with somebody that's meeting him at work, so he took Ryan with him and was going to put him in daycare for the day. You want some juice?"

"No, thank you. What if dad has to do something Super?"

Lois spoke around another bite of banana. "If that's the case and the daycare isn't open yet, then your uncle Perry will be happy to keep an eye on him until I get there to keep him company or put him in once they open. You done?" Casey nodded as she dropped her spoon into the empty bowl in front of her. Lois grabbed it and rinsed both things in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher. "All right, let's go."

"Did you get my clothes for after school?"

Realizing she hadn't, Lois shook her head. "Nope. Since they're your clothes, take a minute, head back to your room and grab a shirt, a pair of jeans and some tennis shoes." Casey ran back towards her room, disappearing into the back of the apartment before reemerging a couple minutes later with the clothes.

Riding down on the elevator in silence, Lois ushered Casey out in front of her and onto the street. Clark had taken the car, since it had Ryan's car seat in it, so Lois waved down a taxi and they were soon on their way to Casey's school. The ride was quiet for most of the drive, until Casey decided to be inquisitive.

"Mom, how are babies made?"

Oh _crap_. "Why do you ask, Case?"

"Beth said that she heard aunt Chloe and uncle Bruce talking about making a baby when uncle Bruce got home from Gotham two days ago."

Well now, that was certainly news. Chloe hadn't said anything about trying to get pregnant when they'd talked at work the day before, so maybe they hadn't come to any conclusions. Lois had wondered a couple times if they were just going to have the one kid, considering Beth was five. Granted, her own children were six years apart, but at least she'd been separated from her husband for four of those years. Chloe and Bruce had no such excuse.

Looking back at Casey, Lois remembered that there was still a certain question of large magnitude in the air. "So, you wanted to know how babies are made, right?"

"Right."

"Ok." Good lord, what was she going to say? Lois liked to consider herself a pretty open and tell-the-truth parent, but she thought that telling an eight year old about sex would probably qualify as TOO open and truthful. But what the hell was she going to say? She didn't want to lie to her daughter about this kind of thingཀ After a moment of thought Casey's school came into view and Lois breathed a sigh of relief. "There's your school. I guess we'll have to talk about this after school, all right? Gimme a kiss."

Casey leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye, mom."

"Bye, hun. Do me a favor and actually smile for your picture, all right? I know you're unhappy about the dress, and for some reason find smiling for pictures distasteful, but a moment of fake happiness will make everybody happy."

"Bye, mom."

Casey climbed out of the cab and walked into the school. Lois settled herself in her seat again before telling the taxi driver to take her to the Daily Planet. The ride went by in silence until they were pulling up to the building. Lois was handing the driver the money when he spoke.

"I thought you handled the baby question very well."

Lois couldn't decide whether she should smile or not. "Uh, thanks?"

"Just thought I'd say."

"Well, be sure that I appreciate it."

Lois climbed out of the cab, staring after it for a moment as it drove away before walking into the building. One long, frequently stopping elevator ride later she was walking into the bullpen and dropping her bag and Casey's clothes into her desk. Sitting down, she started going through her email, not finding much worth reading. A couple story 'tips', if one used the word tips very loosely, and something from Perry about how she still couldn't write off coffee as an expense.

Leaning back in her chair, Lois opened up the top drawer to her desk and pulled out the file on the hospital workers she and Clark were investigating. She was about to start running through names of people that they wanted to interview when she saw Clark walking out of a conference room, shaking hands with the man he'd interviewed. The guy walked off towards the elevator and Clark walked over to her, leaning down and kissing her before taking a seat at his own desk.

"How was the interview?"

"Very good. The man's animal rescue service will make for a very good, easy to write human interest piece."

"You could always just call it what it is, which is fluff. The only reason that Perry even gives you that type of thing is because you're so good at tugging on the heartstrings of the masses."

"First off, you give fluff such a negative tone. Fluff is what a lot of people out there read. Yes, yes, you and also the team of Lane and Kent, i.e. us, are known worldwide for our articles that bring justice to those who have otherwise averted it. BUT, we're shedding light on what's wrong with the world. A lot of people like to see what's right with the world. My fluff pieces? Show that sort of thing. Secondly... well, I don't actually have a secondly. I forgot what I was going to say about tugging at the heartstrings."

Lois smiled at him before leaning across her desk to hand Clark the list of people she'd been about to go over when he'd come out of his interview. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Chloe coming into the office. She pointed at the list. "You call the top few, I'll take the rest later."

"Later? What are you doing now?"

Lois grinned mischievously. "Giving Chloe a hard time." She paused as she got up out of her chair. "Oh, before I forget, Casey asked how babies are made this morning. We're going to have to think of something to tell her later, if she remembers she asked."

"_What_?"

"Just something to think about." Getting up all the way, Lois walked slowly over to Chloe's desk, trying to figure out just how exactly she wanted to screw with Chloe. How to bring up Beth hearing her parents talking about making a baby in the most horrifying way was the question. She could be roundabout, making Chloe think she'd lost her mind before getting to the point. Or she could just go straight into things, stunning her cousin into a dazed stupor from which she'd never recover. These kind of decisions always left her wishing she'd gone the other way with it.

"Hey sisཀ" Lois said, smiling brightly.

Chloe looked over at her and smiled. "Morning, Lo. What's the word on the street?"

Well, Lois couldn't pass up the opportunity THAT phrase presented. "Baby making."

Chloe fell into a coughing fit, apparently having swallowed funny. Lois rolled her eyes and gave the blonde a few pats on the back before she recovered. Chloe cleared her throat, smiling a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Baby making? Are you and Clark trying for number three?"

"If there ever is a number three, he or she will have to wait until we have a place with more than three rooms. But that's not the point. You see, my daughter asked me how babies are made on the way to school this morning. She's an inquisitive child, and while I doubt I'd have ever been _truly_ ready for the question, I think I handled it well."

"Just for reference when I get asked, what'd you say to her?"

Lois pursed her lips. "Oh, you know, I stalled until we were at the school and then told her to smile for school pictures, completely ignoring the question at hand. But once again, not the point. As it just so happens, Casey's wondering was triggered by something YOUR daughter said. You know what that was?"

Chloe winced and sighed. "I have a pretty good guess."

"She said, and I quote, 'Beth said that she heard aunt Chloe and uncle Bruce talking about making a baby when uncle Bruce got home from Gotham two days ago'. This obviously was presented to Casey in some form or fashion, and it was determined a more proper question for me than you. This of course makes me wonder if my daughter has realized that because she's older, she gets the answers to more things and can relay said answers to her cousin. But for now, let's get back to the issue of you and Bruce doing some baby making."

Chloe frowned at her. "Please, say it louderཀ" she said through gritted teeth. "Any passerby that hears you, knows that Chloe Sullivan is married to Bruce Wayne and wants to make a little cash is liable to sell that information to any number of gossip rags in Gothamཀ"

Lois rolled her eyes. "Please, less paranoia about people selling your secrets and more explaining why I'm being asked about how babies are made."

"Look, I'm sorry about that. Bruce and I were talking about that after we'd put Beth to bed for the night. She got up a few hours later because she'd had a bad dream and apparently was sneaky before joining us in the bed. Had I thought she heard anything I would have warned you, obviously, since our girls seem to tell each other everything. They're almost as close as we were after you and Lucy moved in when your dad was sent on the overseas assignment."

"I'm glad. I want them to be that close to each other."

Lois would have said more but a man walked up to them, smiling. "Hi, I'm Brad, the new sportswriter."

Lois smiled at him. "Lois, Lois Lane-Kent. This is my sister, Chloe Sullivan-Wayne."

Brad stared a moment before seeming to recover himself. "Lois Lane and Chloe Sullivan? _The_ Lois Lane of Lane and Kent and _the_ Chloe Sullivan that's married to Bruce Wayne?"

Chloe turned to her. "Ya know, one of these days people are going to know my name for journalism again instead of being married to Bruce. I love the man, but he ruined me for being recognized for anything but him. Granted, there are worse things in life, but I complain because I have things so good."

"I'm sorry if I offended you, but I'm just a little star struck. My last newspaper was the Smallville Ledger, which is a whole lot less daunting than this place. I'm still not sure why Mr. White hired me."

Lois smiled, suddenly taking a shining to Brad. "Really? Smallville?"

"What?"

Lois looked over at Clark, who'd apparently heard her say Smallville and assumed it was her talking to him. "Not you, Smallville. This is Brad, the new sports guy, and therefore another survivor of Smallville that has made it to the Daily Planet." Lois looked at Brad again. "That's Clark Kent, my partner and husband."

"Nice to meet you at a distance, Brad."

Lois continued. "My husband, sister and I all grew up in Smallville. Clark lived there his whole life, and we moved there when she was in 8th grade and I was in 9th. I bet Perry hired you not only because of your skill, but because he's had some good luck with Smallville, the place and the person."

Brad scratched at his chin a moment. "I'm curious, and I hope I'm not getting too personal here, but you keep referring to each other as sisters when her maiden name is Sullivan and yours is Lane. Did you two have different fathers and the same mother while looking nothing alike?"

Chloe looked over at Lois. "You take it this time."

"Got it." Lois smiled at Brad. "Chloe and I consider each other sisters, but we're really cousins. My mom died when I was six, and my dad was in the military but not willing to take a desk job at a base in the States. Instead of dragging my younger sister Lucy and I around with him, he left us with Chloe and her parents. My sister and I never lived with our dad again. Chloe and I grew up together, essentially sisters, going through the roughest times together, and we came to call each other sister because we are, in every way but blood, sisters. I'm as close to her as I am my little sister so she gets the same title." She turned to Chloe again. "Did I leave anything out?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, I think you pretty much covered it."

"Wait a second. Your sister is Lucy Lane?"

That question rarely turned out well. "Yeah..."

"She and I graduated in the same year from Smallville High. I had a HUGE crush on her for years."

Well that was _much_ better news than what people usually said after asking if her sister was Lucy Lane. "Did you really?"

"Yeah, I just never had the guts to ask her out. Granted, I was a hundred pounds heavier, wore thick glasses and wrote for the school newspaper, so I doubt she knew I existed. Huh, suddenly I feel as if I'm in a romantic comedy."

Lois smiled. "Well, you may not like the ending of this romantic comedy." Wrapping an arm around him, she turned him with her body until she spotted Jimmy, then pointed at him. "That guy with the camera around his neck? That's her husband. Great guy. His name's Jimmy Olsen."

Brad nodded and Lois unwrapped her arm. "Ah well. I probably would have chickened out had she been single anyway. I should probably get back to work. It was nice meeting all of you."

Lois and Chloe said their goodbyes as he walked away before turning to each other. "So, what's the verdict on you and Bruce giving Beth a brother or sister?"

"We're seriously thinking about it."

"How serious is serious?"

"I went off birth control two months ago, was taking my basal temperature for a while and had a pillow under my butt as I laid around after sex the other night for reasons I'd rather not say out loud." Chloe leaned in towards her. "Please tell me I don't have to remind you what those reasons are." Lois nodded and Chloe continued. "Hell, the whole reason Bruce came to Metropolis midweek on a week he was supposed to be in Gotham was because I was ovulating."

Lois' eyebrows rose up on her forehead. "Yeah, I'd say that's getting pretty serious about having another baby. Congratulations if you're newly pregnant, by the way."

"Thanks. One can only hope that we get it on the first try, but I'm not going into this with any expectations. And speaking of expectations, I would expect that Perry wants us to work instead of talk about my potential stomach expanding endeavor."

Lois nodded. "Good point. I should probably go help make some calls with Clark, anyway; he'll get mad at me otherwise. Then I'd have to make it up to him with sex. The last time we were making up using sex Ryan was a result. Granted, we were kinda trying for him, but still, just saying. And technically we were making up for lost time, not making up after a fight and holy cow am I rambling."

"Yeah, you are." Chloe patted her on the shoulder as she walked by. "We'll talk at lunch."

Lois nodded before heading over to her desk and sitting down. Glancing at Clark, she saw him talking on the phone, most likely to one of the people she'd asked him to call, considering that he was actually writing stuff down. With his memory, he'd never had to write down any phone messages, at least not that she'd ever seen. Considering they'd been together for thirteen years, married ten and partners ever since he'd returned from his travels, she'd seen him take his fair share of messages.

Rubbing at the corner of an eye, Lois pulled up some research on her computer that she needed to go over. Pulling herself a little closer to the desk, she slouched in her chair, crossing her legs under her desk as she read through some of the research.

"Hey, Lois."

Lois looked over at Clark. "What's up?"

"I need to..." He motioned with his hand, indicating that Superman was needed. "..._Go._ Can you finish up this call?"

"Yeah, sure. Who is it?"

"Phillip Mendel, the geneticist." He walked over and dropped the notes he'd been taking on her desk, smiling at her. "Line 2, thank you, love you and see you later."

She didn't get a chance to say goodbye as he jogged out of the bullpen. Taking a quick glance at his notes, Lois picked up her phone and punched the line 2 button. "Mr. Mendel? Yes, this is Lois Lane. I'm sorry about Clark having to run off, but let's continue your interview."

--

"So what are you guys doing for dinner tonight?"

Lois looked over at Chloe, who'd walked over to her desk. Shrugging, she left her hands fall away from her keyboard and settle in her lap. "We don't have any plans as of yet. Are you thinking we should do something together?"

"I know that we do this type of thing so infrequently these days, only a couple times a week, but I thought that since it's pretty much a perfect day outside we could do dinner in the park."

"Picnic basket or buying from a vendor?"

Chloe leaned back against her desk and crossed her arms. "Good question. How about a combination of the two? Since all we'd get in the park are hot dogs and drinks, I could always pack some sandwiches, chips and cookies for the kids."

"I could eat a cookie or two."

"I'll be sure to pack a couple extra not only for you, but Clark and myself, too."

Lois rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. "Is Bruce going to be in town this evening for another attempted insemination?"

"First off, yeesh. Can we not call my attempt at pregnancy an insemination unless, you know, I have to get artificially inseminated? I just have a thing about that word, which I think I told you before but you probably forgot."

"I did. Many apologies."

"Not a problem. Second, no, it was only the one night a couple nights ago. That was the last day I was ovulating and was the only night Bruce could get away from business in Gotham. Hopefully he'll make it this weekend so we can at least do some practicing for next months attempt, given the slim chances for this month."

"Oooh, practice." Lois grinned. "I _like_ practice." Her grin melted into a frown. "I think I like practice so much that Clark wonders why so many sitcoms show the wives not wanting to practice."

"If Bruce had ever watched a sitcom, I think he'd have the same musings about our frequency of practice."

Lois shook her head and fidgeted in her chair a bit. "I think we're talking about practice too much."

Chloe nodded and stood up off the desk. "Yeah, I agree. I'm gonna go work before this gets uncomfortable."

"Good call."

Taking a hot dog from Clark, Lois handed it off to Casey as Ryan pulled at her free hand. She knelt down next to him. "What do you need, buddy?"

"Water."

Nodding, she stood up and took a bottle of water from Clark and pulled out a clean sippy cup from her bag. Opening up the bottled water, she poured some into the cup before sealing it with the lid and handing it down to Ryan, who took it and started drinking. It still amazed Lois that carrying a hundred things around with her to every place she went with her kids had become the norm. Sure, it had been about eight years since she hadn't had to carry enough equipment to mobilize a small army, but she could remember it. If nothing else, she could remember Chloe not having to drag things around somewhat more recently, five or six years ago.

Biting her lip, Lois took a hot dog from Clark and saw that it already had all her toppings on it. Giving him a thank you back pat, she made sure Ryan and Casey were good before digging in. After a second bite she took her second hot dog from Clark, placing next to the first as they all walked over to a park bench. Suddenly remembering what had happened that day, she looked to Casey.

"Hey, how did your class picture go today, Case?"

"Ok."

Ah, ok. How she so loved getting the word 'ok' for an answer from her daughter. It warmed her heart. Weren't kids supposed to acquire the indifference Casey already seemed to have at least _after _hitting double digits in age?

"Did you make your parents happy and smile?"

"Yes, mom."

"Good, good." Good lord, she cared about class pictures an inordinate amount.

"How about you, Beth?" Chloe asked. "Do you think that you took a good picture today?"

"Yeahཀ The lady taking the pictures really liked my headband and told me that it was pretty. She also said that it went really well with my dress. I thought she was going to take more pictures, but after she took one she said that I could go. After that we went to recess."

Lois turned to Casey. "See? Your cousin had to wear a dress too. It isn't that big of a deal."

"Casey," Clark said, "when your mom was younger she wasn't a big fan of dress wearing either. Give her a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a hair tie so she could have a pony tail and she was all set. But, as she grew up, she found that the dresses got better and liked wearing them more. Dresses for girls aren't all the great, but dresses for women? _Much_ better."

"Daddy, dresses are stupidཀ They get in the way when I try to run fastཀ"

"I know you think dresses are stupid, but you also know that you aren't supposed to run fast unless I'm around, and we've never gone running while you were in a dress. It leads me to wonder just how you found out that a dress gets in the way."

Lois raised an eyebrow as she swallowed a bite of hot dog and took a bag of chips from Chloe. "Well, this is a nice little revelation."

Casey looked up, her eyes flying from one parent to another. "It was only a couple times, I swearཀ I had to go to the bathroom really badly and couldn't hold it any longerཀ I made sure nobody saw meཀ"

Lois eyed her daughter. "And how exactly did you do that?"

"I looked around and saw that nobody was watching me."

Lois sighed and looked to Clark, who was going to have to be the one to handle this sort of thing. Super speed and its use were subjects decidedly out of her area of expertise.

"Casey, first off, your mother and I aren't mad at you. We understand that sometimes there are emergencies. What we hope is that from the two times you're telling us about, you've learned not to hold it so long."

Casey interrupted him. "It wasn't my fault the first time, daddyཀ I was one of the first ones finished with a test last year, and wanted to go when I finished. The teacher wouldn't let me go to the bathroom until everybody in the class was doneཀ By the time she let me go I had to run to the bathroom."

"Oh. That one does kind of fall on the teacher's shoulders."

"Yeah it does," Lois said. "Mrs. Wilkes did that to you?" Casey nodded. "And you didn't know that she was going to do this during the test? She didn't ask if anybody needed to go to the bathroom before it?"

"She asked a little while before, but I didn't have to go then."

Lois nodded, suddenly a lot less peeved at Mrs. Wilkes. She didn't like the fact that the teacher wouldn't let Casey go to the bathroom, but at least there had been opportunity prior to the denial. If there hadn't been, there would have been problems, even if it had been a year ago when this had happened. Exhaling loudly, Lois took a cookie from Chloe.

"I think the moral of the story is, Case, that as you know, no super speed unless it's an emergency. And if at all possible, how about you avoid the emergencies, all right?"

"You do realize that because she's your daughter that may not be possible for her, right?"

Lois rolled her eyes and glared at Clark, who just winked at her.


	11. Chapter 11

-- Chapter 11

"Daddy, what's your favorite sport?"

Lois looked over at Casey, who was sitting next to Clark and watching television with him. Taking a bite of her apple, she chewed slowly and wondered why he always got the easy questions. Two days ago she'd gotten 'How are babies made?' and now he gets 'What's your favorite sport?' to answer. She was really looking forward to Ryan getting older so Clark could get the annoying, potentially innocence ruining questions.

"It's a difficult choice, Casey. I'm tempted to say football, but I'm not sure that it would specific enough to just lump it all together. My favorite is college football, but if we're just talking professional sports, football and baseball are neck and neck. How about you? What's your favorite sport?"

"Soccer. We play it at school a lot and it's a lot of fun."

Lois rubbed at her forehead. Sports were a dangerous thing for a child with her father's super powers and her mother's competitive streak. If she'd only had one without the other, they'd have been all set, but she didn't think their genes could match up like that. She was fairly certain that Ryan would also be very competitive, and she just hoped that he would have as much restraint as Casey claimed she did. "You're always careful when you play, right Case?"

"Yeah, mom. I don't want anybody to get hurt, and I want things to be fair."

Lois gave her a thumbs up, smiling at her before taking another bite of apple. She watched father and daughter interact, unable to keep hold on a contented sigh that found its way out of her as she watched them. She was so happy that they got along. For years she'd wondered if Casey would resent Clark. He'd had to leave to do his training before she'd even turned one, and hadn't been back until a month before her fifth birthday.

--

_Picking up a couple toys, Lois walked out of the living room and back towards Casey's room, scooping up one last thing that sat in the doorway to her daughter's room. Dumping her payload on the bed, she crossed her arms over her chest as Casey simply went about playing, enjoying whatever it was she was doing with a couple dolls. "Casey?"_

_Her dark haired girl looked up and smiled. "Hi, mommy. Wanna play with Melissa and me?"_

_Lois ran a hand back through her hair, desiring to do nothing more than sit down on the floor with her little girl and play the rest of the evening away, but unfortunately she found herself lacking that luxury. "Sorry girly, mommy has to make dinner instead. We have to eat, don't we?"_

_Casey nodded, still smiling. That smile was one of the reasons she'd been able to get through the last four years without Clark, without her husband at her side. It was her father's smile, and more than that it was a reassurance. _

_Lois had been deathly afraid when he'd told her he had to leave that she was going to end up a lifelong single mother. After he explained that he didn't think he'd be gone forever, she'd still been scared about things. The whole reason she'd thought she could handle parenting was because Clark had been there, doing it with her, making her fell like she could do anything. _

_When he'd left to do his training, she'd been so worried that she didn't have him to fall back on and save her from making mistakes that she was going to ruin Casey. Ten thousand worst case scenarios had run through her head, making her think that she was going insane. When she'd first found out she was pregnant she'd been scared, but it hadn't been anything like that because she knew she'd have Clark there to help her._

_And before their daughter turned one, he was gone._

_The first month had been the worst. Chloe had married Bruce a couple days before Clark left, wanting to make sure that one of her best friends and brother-in-law was at her wedding. She and Bruce had taken a three week honeymoon, which she'd thought was quite long considering what he did in Gotham. _

_But they'd been gone three weeks, so her backup safety net had been MIA when her husband had been forced to take a long term leave of absence from her life. That had been unfortunate. Granted, she had told Chloe that she would be fine and could handle working at the Planet and taking care of a ten month old all by herself, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about all that stuff crashing in and crushing her under eight tons of responsibility._

_Martha had been there to help when she could, but she'd had her Senatorial duties to attend to and was only able to manage a couple weekends. It was better than nothing, but for the most part it had been just her and Casey doing their mother and daughter thing. _

_She'd never known if it was Casey knowing that her father was gone or just that it had become significantly quieter than she was accustomed to, but for the first four days of no Clark and Chloe being present Casey had wailed for hours on end. Part of that had probably also been teething, but the complete opposite environment of what she'd become used to probably didn't help things._

_After the first month, Lois felt that she and Casey had found a good rhythm, knowing what to expect from each other. It was hard work, being a single mother and trying to be the best reporter the Daily Planet had ever seen, but it was the best work she'd ever done. Casey spent a lot of time with her while she was at work, and when she had an interview during the day or was running behind on a deadline she would put her in the company daycare._

_Though Clark had said that it was extremely unlikely his training would only take a year, when the one year anniversary of his leaving passed she'd let Chloe watch Casey for an hour and just curled up, having a good cry over how much she missed her husband. It was an extremely girly thing to do, she felt, but after she'd done it she'd felt ten times better. _

_It was the only anniversary she'd done it on. _

_By the time the second, third and fourth anniversaries had passed, Lois had become used to a life without Clark in it. She still wore her wedding ring, but she never really thought about having it on unless somebody was hitting on her and she could just flash it as a simple way of saying 'Go away.' Much easier than actually saying the words._

_Remembering why she'd come into Casey's room, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Come here a sec, would ya Case?"_

_Getting up, she kept her favorite doll in hand as she walked over and stood in front of her._

_Lois smiled at her. "You remember the rule about picking up toys, right?"_

_Casey nodded. "Yes, mommy."_

"_One question then: why were your toys on the floor in the living room?"_

"_I forgot when I came in here to play with Melissa. She was getting lonely while I was out in the living room, so I came in and made sure she had some company."_

_Lois nodded, following the four year old logic of remembering the rules but forgetting the toys. She'd become used to it, and was preparing herself to get used to five year old logic once that birthday happened. She pulled Casey into a half hug and sighed, not feeling like doing any chastising for not picking up toys. She was four; if there was an age to not pick up toys, that would probably be one of the more popular. _

"_I love you, so you get a free pass this time. Just try to remember next time, all right girly?"_

"_Ok, mommy. I'm sorry."_

"_It's all right," Lois said as she gave her a light swat on the backside as the ran to play some more. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she stood up off the edge of Casey's bed and walked out of the room, heading into the kitchen and making sure that spaghetti noodles she was boiling was doing well. _

_After years of cooking lessons with Martha, being shown all the Kent family recipes and failing miserably in most attempts, she'd finally gotten the hang of a dozen or so dishes that she liked to make. They ate out on occasion, and had fast food when they were really hard up for finding something to eat, but for the most part Lois could make them dinner and unlike in her youth, it was quite edible, if not the tastiest thing ever._

_Pulling some noodles out, she found that they were ready and drained the water. Grabbing a spoon, she mixed up the sauce a little bit before taking a taste and finding it to be satisfactory. Grabbing a small plate, she put some noodles on it and dribbled sauce over the top, doing her best not to get too much on there while not leaving the noodles bare. After many questions as to why she didn't want to eat the sauce, it was determined Casey didn't like the green bits in it. They'd compromised and had agreed that Casey would eat a little sauce, but not a lot._

_Setting Casey's plate on the table, Lois walked back into the kitchen and popped some french bread in the microwave, warming it up before pulling it out and slathering it in butter. She popped it into the microwave again, melting the butter into the bread before pulling it out and taking it to the table._

_Back in the kitchen once more, she got herself a plate of spaghetti, taking a bite before taking it to the table and putting it down at her place. After getting herself a glass of water and Casey a glass of milk, she put them on the table and headed back to Casey's room. Leaning on the doorjamb, Lois watched Casey a second before speaking. "Dinner time, Case."_

"_What are we having?"_

"_Spaghetti." Before Casey could complain, Lois held up a hand. "I know that you're not a big fan, but remember our compromise: you'll eat a little sauce with your noodles. I did my best to keep the green parts out of your food."_

"_You promise?"_

"_I do, but only because I love you so much that I have to hug you right now." Casey ran over and Lois pulled her into a hug, rubbing a hand over her daughter's head a couple times before guiding her out to the table._

_After getting Casey all set up at her place and making sure that the sauce on the spaghetti noddles was ok, she sat down and started digging in. Grabbing a piece of bread for herself, Lois grabbed another piece and tore it in half, putting on half on Casey's plate. Casey grabbed it and took a bite, attempting to thank her and chew at the same time. It didn't work very well._

_Once dinner was done, Lois got Casey set up with a chocolate chip cookie in hand and Cinderella on the television while she went about cleaning up. Scratching at her forehead, she looked at all the dishes that needed to be cleaned. Seriously considering putting it off for the night, she talked herself out of it and got to the cleaning, dunking the saucepan in some hot water before setting about the scrubbing. _

_For some reason, over the years she had come to find scrubbing dishes after cooking to be a very pleasant time. If nothing else, it provided her ten to fifteen minutes, or on spaghetti night twenty, where she could turn her brain off and just do something that didn't require her to think. She liked to think, as it provided her many opportunities in life, but ten to twenty minutes without thinking before the day ended was a nice decompression. Otherwise she went to bed with a head full of thoughts she didn't want to bother thinking._

_Pulling a loose hair out of her face, Lois wiped clean a pot before sticking it in the dishwasher. Grabbing another pot, she got it cleaned up and put in the dishwasher, and was about to start on another when there was a knock at the door. Dropping the pot to soak in the hot water, she wrapped the dishtowel around her neck and walked out of the kitchen. Casey was still ensconced in the movie, apparently not wanting to bother with the door while the movie was on._

_Grinning, Lois made her way to the door and opened it up. When she saw who was standing on the other side, her mouth fell open. Oh God, keep breathing. Keep standing. Don't fall into his arms and cry joyously because that would be unseemly. He smiled at her and she just about fell apart, remembering how much she loved his smile._

"_Hi, Lo."_

"_Clark. You're... you're here!"_

"_I'm here, and I'm here fore good. You have no idea how much I've missed you." He took a step forward and pulled her into a hug._

"_I might have an idea, Smallville," Lois mumbled into his shoulder. Turning her head, she saw that he'd done the same and stared into his eyes for a second before she kissed him. It was like finding water in a desert she hadn't even know she was in. She drank it in for a few minutes before finally pulling away, not wanting to give anybody that walked through the hallway any more of a show than kissing. _

_Lois pulled him inside, closing the door and jumping into his arms again, planting another scorching kiss on him. She dropped back to the floor a minute later, leaning against him and catching her breath. "I should be asking you about your training, but all I want to do is kiss you, among other things."_

"_Yeah, I'm in the same boat except if I asked you about training I wouldn't get much of an answer."_

_Lois looked up at him. "There's somebody on the couch you need to get to know."_

_He looked over towards the couch for a second before looking at her. "She's on the couch?"_

"_Yeah. She's watching Cinderella so I doubt she's even aware that we're here. I don't think she'll mind you interrupting once she knows who you are."_

"_Has Casey asked about me a lot since I left?"_

"_I don't think she really noticed, at least not until Chloe had Beth and we spent a lot of time with the Wayne's as a family. I think that was when she first realized other kids had a dad around and she didn't." A pained look crossed Clark's face, and Lois leaned into him, rubbing a hand across his chest softly._

"_When did Chloe have a baby?"_

"_Bethany Ellen Wayne was born August 30__th__, 2011. If you don't want to do the math yourself, she'll be two this summer."_

_Clark hugged her tight to his body. "I've missed so much. Chloe has a daughter and my own daughter doesn't even know I exist."_

"_She knows about you, Clark. I made sure of that. She's seen lots of pictures of you and knows what kind of person you are. I gave her as many details about you as I was comfortable with her knowing at her age."_

_Clark sighed. "She knows of me, but she doesn't know me. I have so much to make up for."_

_Taking his hand, Lois started pulling him towards the couch. When he didn't move, she scowled at him. "Best to start now, Smallville."_

"_I, uh..." Clark cleared his throat. "I'm nervous."_

_Lois smiled at him and kissed the back of his hand for reassurance. "Don't be. Casey's actually a lot less scary now than she was as a newborn."_

"_How do you figure that? Seems pretty daunting to me, especially if she's like her mother."_

"_Well, she cries a lot less because now she can tell us what she wants, she no longer goes to the bathroom in her pants and also no longer sucks on me for food, which I never got fully used to but you always seemed ok with. Also, so far her personality resembles that of her father, at least through my eyes."_

"_The breast feeding is a little off topic, but I see what you mean._"_ He paused and swallowed. "She's really like me?"_

"_She is."_

_She watched as Clark sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "All right. I should get to know my daughter."_

_Walking over hand in hand, Lois had Clark wait behind the couch before walking in front and sitting down next to Casey. She grabbed the remote and paused the movie, which caused Casey to look over at her. "Why'd you stop the movie, mommy?"_

"_Well, we need to talk about something. You know how I've always told you how your dad was out in the world, doing what he needed to do to make sure that he could be with us in the future?" Casey nodded, and Lois continued. "Good, I'm glad you remember that because your daddy got to come home tonight."_

_Lois pointed back over at Clark, causing Casey to turn and look at him. She got onto her knees and leaned over the back of the couch. "You're my daddy?"_

_Clark nodded. "I am."_

"_Where'd you go?"_

"_I needed to travel around the world, to become who I needed to be so that I could protect you and your mom." Lois frowned but Clark kept going before she could interrupt. "Your mom probably doesn't like hearing that, but I imagine, given time, it will end up being very true. I love you, though. Very much. Every day that I was gone I thought about you, your mom and coming back home so I could be with you guys."_

_Clark walked over and knelt down behind the couch, kneeling about a foot from Casey. "I'm here to stay, Casey. I'm not leaving again. I might be gone from time to time, but I'll always come home, I promise." Clark paused a second before he smiled. "You want to hear something cool?"_

_Casey nodded. "Ok."_

"_Before you were born, when you were in your mommy's tummy, we were having trouble thinking of names. We knew you were going to be a girl, but we couldn't think of anything. We tried names like Jordan, Andrea and Cassidy, but they just didn't quite fit for you. Then one day I was thinking about you, about how I hoped you'd always be happy, and the name Casey just came to me. It was perfect, and your mom agreed."_

"_That's true, girly," Lois said. "Your dad here? Totally responsible for your awesome name."_

"_That is cool. Do you want to watch Cinderella with me?"_

_Clark smiled as widely as Lois had ever seen before he hopped over the back of the couch and sat down next to her. He tentatively wrapped an arm around Casey, much the way he had her when they'd gone on their first date, which she found an odd but apt comparison. Casey moved over and leaned against him and Lois just about melted from happiness at seeing the two of them together again. It had been so long, he'd been away for so many years that she'd stopped thinking about when he was coming home. She pushed play on the remote almost without thinking._

_Wiping away a tear, Lois sank back into the couch and tried to keep the waterworks at bay. She felt a hand run across her arms and looked over to find Clark looking at her. She sniffed and got up off the couch, walking back to her bedroom. Their bedroom. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she tried to holds the sobs back that were trying to wrench themselves out of her. Clark walked into the room and silently sat down next to her, pulling her into his body and she finally let it all go._

_She sobbed into his chest, unable to stop. When she finally felt herself recovering, it didn't feel like she had sobbed herself out so much as just run out of tears with sobs left to spare. "I thought you weren't coming back. I knew you weren't going to be gone forever in my head, but I had to close my heart down. It hurt too much, thinking about how long it might be before I saw you again. After the first year I couldn't take it anymore and I just had to try and forget you existed beyond my wedding ring. Even Casey couldn't make my heart hurt less from missing you." _

_Lois rolled her eyes. "You really must be back for me to say something like that. I haven't been so sentimentally messy with words since you had to leave."_

"_Fifteen minutes to bring out your inner cheesiness. I've still got it." Clark sighed very audibly. "I love you, Lois, and I'm so sorry I put you through four years alone. If I'd had any choice..."_

"_I know, Smallville. Something came out of all this, though. Before you left I _thought_ I could do anything, that I was strong enough to accomplish whatever I tried. After the last four years, I _know_ that I'm strong enough. I raised Casey, all on my own, while being the best journalist at the Daily Planet. If I can do that, I can do anything."_

"_Thank you, by the way, for making sure that our girl was and is happy and healthy. She's beautiful, and perfect, and everything that she was when I left, except bigger. A LOT bigger."_

_Lois smiled. "Yeah, she's tall for her age. I blame you and your kryptonian genes for that. I'm blaming my human genes for the happy, healthy and beautiful parts, though."_

"_I thought you might." He hugged her closer. "God, I've missed the feel of you so much."_

"_I know what you mean." Lois remembered the kisses from earlier. "Yeah, uh, Casey will be asleep in a couple hours. Then..." Lois trailed off and waggled her eyebrows at him._

"_Then there's touching?"_

"_Oh, there'll be touching. I plan on making up for all the love we haven't made in the past four years in the next, oh, four months."_

"_Four years stuffed into four months?"_

"_You think you can handle it, Smallville?"_

_He scratched at his neck before grinning down at her. "If I can't, then the four years of training really wasn't worth it."_

--

"Mommy?"

Blinking a couple times, Lois snapped out of her thoughts and focused on Ryan, who was standing in front of her. She placed the remnants of her apple on the table and picked up her sleepy looking child, letting him sit in her lap. "How was your nap, buddy?" All she got for an answer was him laying his head against her chest.

She rubbed a hand across his back a moment, figuring that he was headed back towards slumber when he spoke. "I'm thirsty."

"What would you like to drink?"

"Water, please."

Standing and resting Ryan on her hip, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a small glass, filling it with water and handing it to him. Watching him sip for a minute, she walked into the living room and sat down across from Clark and Casey, who were still talking about sports. Lois smiled as she watched all her favorite people. Nothing was happening, but this qualified as a really good Saturday afternoon in her mind.

Pulling the hard copy of the hospital workers piece out of the printer, Lois skimmed through it once before taking it to Perry's office. Not bothering with the formality of knocking, Lois walked into his office and laid the piece down on his desk. "I know how much you love your red ink, Perry, so I thought I'd give you something to edit with your pen this time. I also emailed the article to you, per usual."

"I appreciate the gesture, Lane. Where's your husband?"

She pointed backwards over her shoulder. "Out at his desk. You want him to come in here?"

"Nah, it was more of general curiosity. One can never tell if he's going to be here or off doing something that he forgot about at any given time." Perry pulled a file out of his desk and handed it to her. "This is an interview for you two this afternoon. A Dr. Jayne down at STAR Labs claims to have figured out how to time travel, and wants you and Clark to be the ones to break the story."

Lois frowned. "This sounds more like something for the science guy, or maybe even the science _fiction_ guy. Why does he want us?"

"He said he wanted the best writers for the story because people are going to be skeptical. After you helped to make Superman as popular as you did, and knowing that the public is going to be disbelieving of time travel being possible, he thinks you and Clark can make people believe. He also says that most people aren't going to want to get into the little details of how exactly time travel works anyway and will give those to other publications, which doesn't really bother me. They public will most likely just want to know if it works or not."

"Yeah, ok Chief. When is he expecting us?"

"Three o'clock."

Lois nodded. "All right. I'll do my best to go in with an open mind, if nothing else. In a world with a flying extra terrestrial, I guess anything is possible."

"Time travel? Really?"

Lois looked over at Clark. "You of all people are going to question something like this?"

Clark frowned at her, pushing his glasses up on his nose. He looked forward to see what the cab driver was doing, Lois assumed, before turning back to her. "Yeah, well, the fact that I've seen some amazing things in my life doesn't mean I can't be skeptical."

"Hey, I'm all for skepticism, Smallville, but like I told Perry, I'm going in with an open mind. We grew up in a town where people had supernatural powers because of meteor rocks, and combine that fact with the fact that Superman exists and I can't be a good journalist without at least taking a look." She grinned. "You be Scully, I'll be Mulder."

"I'm going to take that in the spirit of I'm the skeptic and you're the believer."

"What else would it mean, Smallville? I would certainly never imply that I'm the man in this relationship of ours."

Clark scowled at her. "_Of course_ you wouldn't."

The cab pulled up to the curb and Lois waited for her partner as he paid the cab driver. They made their way up the walkway, heading into the STAR Labs building. As she walked through the hallway, the sound of her steps against the floor echoing off the walls, she could barely hear Clark's steps as he followed her to the elevator. Running a hand through her hair as she walked into the elevator, Lois turned as the doors closed and watched as floors flew by until they got where they were going.

Walking out, she quickly found the lab that they were looking for and knocked on the door a couple times before walking in. "Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Miss Laneཀ Mr. Kentཀ" A man walked into her line of sight from her left, grinning wildly as he offered a hand out to shake hands with her and Clark. "I'm so glad that I was able to convince your editor to send you down here. This is... well, I made it workཀ They said it couldn't be done because of the energy requirements, but _I_ did it."

Lois nodded, smiling and trying to be friendly despite the fact that she thought the guy looked like he could very well turn out to turn out to be eccentric. "Well that's why we're here, Dr. Jayne. How about we get this demonstration going? I'm eager to see if our strange world has gotten even stranger."

The man nodded, motioning for them to follow as he walked back into the lab, making his way around piles of stuff that lay strewn about. Lois couldn't imagine what some of the stuff might have been, had it ever been anything.

Dr. Jayne stopped suddenly, grabbing something off the table and looking at it a moment before tossing it back and continuing on. When they finally got to the back of the lab, the doctor pointed at two large metal pillars, grinning wildly once more. "Here it is."

Pulling her recorder out of her bag, Lois hit the record button before speaking. "Dr. Jayne, how exactly does your time machine work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?"

Never having had much interest in sciences of that nature, Lois shook her head, but apparently Clark knew something. "The basic principle of wormholes is that they take two points and create the shortest distance, a straight line, between them. The name literally comes from the example of a worm boring through an apple to get from one side to the other instead of going around the outside."

"Correctཀ Rudimentary, yes, but as you said that is the basic principle of it. Taking years of data and research, I studied them until I went cross-eyed. From that, though, I figured out how exactly to create one without draining the world of its power reserves."

"And how exactly can you do that?" Lois asked.

"Dark energy."

Lois frowned, having heard the term before but not being entirely familiar with it. Once again, Clark picked up the slack. "Dark energy? You actually figured out a way to harness it?"

Turning back to Clark, Lois raised an incredulous eyebrow. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"We've known each other for how long now, sixteen years? We've been a couple the majority of that time and you don't know that I know this type of thing?"

He quirked an eyebrow and Lois smiled sheepishly, catching on to what he was saying. She may as well have said 'I don't pay attention to your interestsཀ' to him. Turning back to Dr. Jayne, Lois smiled. "Sorry about that. Please, continue."

"It's quite all right. I was as shocked as you are, Mr. Kent, when it worked. I'd hoped, but never expected. Needless to say that this has the potential to solve all energy problems in the world, though I'm not entirely certain how safe harnessing it is yet. No ill effects on me, though, so it appears to be good."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lois said, moving a little closer to the scientist. "What is dark energy?"

"Dark energy, Miss Lane, in basic terms is what causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. We didn't even know it existed twenty years ago. If the whole world used it for power, nobody on Earth would be without electricity and it wouldn't even qualify as the proverbial drop in the bucket."

"Could you develop a way for that to be done?"

The man worked his jaw for a moment before shrugging. "It's possible. The way I've done it here isn't feasible for mass use, but if I brought in some of my colleagues I'm sure it could be done."

"Wow, good day for science," Lois muttered. The science guy at the Planet was definitely going to enjoy hearing about that finding. "All right, Dr. Jayne, why don't you fire this sucker up so we can see some time travel."

"Yes, good idea. Best to get to the nitty gritty."

"Got any jacks?"

"Go fish."

Lois took a card off the pile, sticking it in with the dozen other cards she couldn't match up. She looked up at Clark. "I'm glad that I had some cards in my purse, but what does it say about us that we're playing go fish?"

"I think it says that we have two young children and forget that they aren't around when doing things like this. Do you have any eights?" Lois grumbled and handed over her eight. It may be Go Fish, but she still didn't like losing. "Do you have any fours?" Rolling her eyes, Lois handed over her four. "Any kings?"

"Go fish, Smallville. Hey, did I tell you that Chloe and Bruce are trying for another baby?" She inspected her cards a second. "Got any nines?"

Clark held a card out and Lois took it, setting the pair down. "You had not told me that they were trying again. That would be why Bruce came to Metropolis the other night and was gone the next morning, wouldn't it?"

"Yup. Got a two in there somewhere?"

"Go fish." Lois pulled a card off the pile and paired up her jack, putting it down with the other pairs she'd taken. "I had wondered if the two of them were ever going to have another baby. I know that Bruce has always been hesitant, what with the perils of some of his activities and not wanting to leave his kids without a father, but I'm not surprised Chloe finally talked him into it. Have a three?"

"Go fish. I'm not surprised either. She owed him a being talked into having a baby situation anyway, considering she had wanted to wait another year before trying to get pregnant with Beth. He'd been so worried about wild cards in his life, namely a _Joker_ popping up when he least expected it and doing something damaging, that he'd wanted them to have a baby sooner rather than later. I think he thought that it would make life easier on Chloe if he were to kick it, so people wouldn't say she no longer had a connection to the family or something like that. Of course, were I to tell Chloe that story now she'd completely deny it and say she'd always been on board with trying to get pregnant with Beth."

Dr. Jayne walked over to them, smiling. "It should be firing up any minute now. What year would you like it set to?"

Lois thought for a moment about what year she wanted to go to before an idea occurred to her. "How about 1986? I wouldn't mind going back to the year of my birth." She shrugged at Clark before turning back to the doctor. "Would we just pop into 1986 at random, or are you able to set the time?"

"I can set it to a specific time, but if I just set it to a year then you'd go back to that year at the same date and time from which you left this year.

"Well then, how about the day of... I dunno, June 19th, 1986? If this thing works, of course."

"Oh, it works, Miss Lane. I've already been back to 1982."

Standing up, Lois noticed a glow encompassing the metal pillars before speaking to the doctor. "You went back already? Why to 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I'm a bit partial to it."

The glow around the pillars increased with each second, Lois watched it a second before turning back to Dr. Jayne. "Stupid question time: I'm sure you've worked this out, but how is one supposed to come back to the present without your big honking metal pillars here between which to create a wormhole?"

"Ah, yes." Pulling a backpack out, he handed it to her. It was hefty, but not overly so. "What I'm powering up now is the big, impressive version. What's in that backpack is the same thing, but streamlined so that one can carry it along for the trip. Otherwise it would be a one way trip, and that would kind of defeat the purpose of time travel."

Suddenly there was a loud crack and the room lit up brightly. Pulling out her sunglasses, Lois slipped them on and saw that there was a large, swirling vortex between the pillars now. Shrugging, she looked back at Dr. Jayne. "You say you've done this, and it's safe?"

"I've been to 1982 three times and have yet to notice any ill effects."

"Good enough for me." Turning back to Clark, she hefted the backpack onto her shoulder and grinned. "You ready to do this?"

"Lois, this may not be the best idea. This isn't me breaking out my skeptic card, so much as my cautious card."

"We'll be fine, Clark. See you in the pastཀ"

Getting a running start, Lois launched herself into the light.

Landing on her feet, Lois slowed herself down after a few steps and stopped before running into anything. Pulling her sunglasses off and stuffing them in a pocket, she looked around and saw that everything that had been in the lab wasn't there anymore. There was a crack behind her and Lois moved out of the way as Clark came through the wormhole, stopping after a couple steps and looking around, much as she had.

"Seems it may have actually worked."

"We'll see. Come on."

Making their way through the building, they went outside and stared at the city. Lois spoke first. "Well, going on looks alone it appears we're in the past."

"True. We need to find something with a date on it, though, to be sure."

Making their way down the street, they both kept an eye out for things that could have dates on them. Not too far way they found a newspaper dispenser, and after digging out a quarter from her pocket Lois popped it into the machine and pulled out a paper, letting the little door slam shut as she checked the date. Grinning, she looked at Clark.

"And so we find ourselves in 1986, Smallville."

She handed him the paper, and he glanced at it before looking at her again. "Skepticism never works."

Lois smiled. "Finally he gets it. Oh, and happy Juneteenth."


	12. Chapter 12

-- Chapter 12

"Do you know how many good bands are touring the country and belting out amazing tunes right now, Smallville? Do you know how much I want to track down when Whitesnake is playing its next show in Metropolis and use this handy dandy time machine on my back to take us there?"

"No, but I have a guess."

Lois shook her head at him, patting him on the chest. "I don't think you do. I would sell my left middle toe to see Whitesnake live."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "Well that's not at all strange and slightly disturbing." He paused and exhaled. "It does raise an interesting question, though, in what people would do with this technology."

"I have no doubts that in the hands of the wrong people time could be changed over and over again, probably completely by mistake more than purposefully. Hell, there's a chance we could change things by being back here."

"Should we go back?"

Lois scoffed at him. "Are you kidding me? We're in 1986, Smallvilleཀ It's not like we're going to have limitless use of this time travel technology after we write an article and tell everybody that we went back to 1986. How exactly we're going to prove that, I have no idea, but I'm sure people will take our word for it. We really should have brought a camera or something."

"Being the Scully of this relationship, I didn't think it was going to work. However," he said as he fished around in his pocket, "I have my cell phone. As you well know, it does everything except cook dinner and put the kids to bed, so filming a bit of the past should be no big deal."

"That'll do," Lois said as she got up on her toes and kissed him lightly. Taking a step back, Lois turned and looked at the city, crossing her arms over her chest as she made observations. "So, what do you think the 1986 hotspot is in Metropolis?"

"No idea. I wasn't even on Earth at this point in time."

"Yeah, and I'm not born yet. Wow, a world prior to Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Call me crazy, but I don't think I like it as much. Well, aside from the music. In that, things are decidedly downhill after this."

"Actually, I'd say they were already headed downhill at this point. After _Frampton Comes Alive_ became the first album, or maybe it was the first rock album... anyway, after it was the first of something to go platinum back in 1976, things became all about the money. It was the turning point, really, of rock being about making music to rock being an industry about making money."

Lois slowly turned her head, making sure that her husband hadn't been replaced by somebody that sounded like him. Finding that she was still looking at Clark, she could only find the ability to say one word. "Huh?"

"You assuming I know nothing about the history of music doesn't make it true."

"But... _what_?"

Clark frowned, tilting his head a little as he spoke. "Did I cause you to fry the nerves in your brain that allow you to speak complex sentences?"

"How do you know that?" Lois asked, still not believing what she'd heard.

"Well, with your obsession with all things hair bands I figured I should try listening to some classic rock so I could ease myself into the stuff you like. This was a while back, before we had even been together a year, and when I was in my 'Let's have a lot of common interests' phase. I didn't really like the music you had me try, so I figured I needed some background to it, maybe know its roots so as to understand it better. I started out with Black Sabbath, and that was... well, let's just say I haven't listened to it since. I stepped away from that kind of classic rock and tried Led Zeppelin."

Lois snapped her fingers, smiling as she remembered that. "So THAT'S why you were one day all of a sudden obsessed with themཀ God, that bugged me for monthsཀ You never explained your sudden Zeppelin love, and with how much you were into the blah rock of the early 2000's and old, old country singers, I was quite confused."

"Yeah, that basically opened my eyes. From them I went to Pink Floyd the David Gilmour years, The Rolling Stones before they went on ninety-three farewell tours and The Doors. There were other bands, of course, but those were the biggies that stuck with me the longest."

"I know; you still listen to them."

"Very true. So after that I went back to hair bands. I wanted to like them because you liked them, and they couldn't be that bad if you liked them, right? Unfortunately, things did not work out as such. I couldn't get into them. I mean, they're not _awful_, but as you well know, I just never liked them all that much." Clark shrugged at her. "What can I say? Once I got into the real classics it was hard for me to move on to their not-as-good followers."

Lois ran a hand back through her hair, exhaling loudly as she readjusted the backpack she was wearing. "How is it we've been married ten years and I didn't know all this about you?"

"To be fair, I was gone for four years and a month of that, which translates to us only being with each other for six years and a month, since it's been a month since our anniversary."

Oh, so he wants to play the specifics game, did he? She could do that. "That doesn't include the fact that we were together for three years and two months before we got married, though, so you take out the couple months where you didn't listen to classic rock and you've got nine years and one month of me not knowing the why of you adding classic rock to your musical library."

"That does make our communication sound a little shoddy, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it really does." Lois bit her lip and thought about it for a second. "Of course, all things considered it seems to have worked out for us pretty well."

"I wouldn't change a thing," he said as he leaned down and kissed her before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "But hey, now you know. Can't say I didn't try to like your music."

"No, I can no longer say that."

"I was actually kidding with that little statement."

Lois nodded and grinned at him. "I know."

Clark rolled his eyes before turning his head and looking at the city skyline. Lois mimicked his action, letting the scene take her in for a moment. Metropolis really was a beautiful city. "Is it weird, Smallville, that it took us going back to 1986 to get into a serious discussion about why you listen to the music you listen to?"

"Not at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this is the norm for most couples."

"_Really_? I didn't know other couples time traveled."

"Oh, are we talking in the present? I was thinking more along the lines of the distant future, when time travel will probably be a little more accessible to the public."

"Very helpful," Lois said, shaking her head. "So, how about we stop talking about the past like we're in the future and start being in the past since we are, in fact, in the past. Does that make sense?"

Clark nodded slowly, turning to face her. "When one has listened to you speak as long as I have, it's easy to discern what you're trying to say from what you actually say. Usually. Well, sometimes it's pretty tough, but you usually end up doing what you attempt to say you're going to do which generally clears things up."

Clark moved quickly and swept her up in his arms, bringing about a feeling of giddiness in her that Lois always felt was kind of cliché of her. Her big, strong man sweeps her up into his arms and she gets all melty inside? What's that about? He knew it happened, too, so he tended to sweep her up more than necessary, but that didn't mean she had to like the fact that she liked him doing it. Of course, whenever he did it in the bedroom...

Shaking her head, Lois wrapped her arms around his neck. "Let's go, Smallville."

The world around her turned into a blur, and before she had the chance to close her eyes against any dizzying effects they were stopped in an alley, with Clark putting her down on her feet. Giving herself the post-windy pat down, she smoothed out all her clothes. Clark volunteered himself to smooth out the fabric over her butt, but she nipped that idea in the bud. Just because they were in 1986 didn't mean they needed to get frisky in 1986. Had she really just thought the word frisky?

Walking out of the alley with Clark at her side, Lois gave the area he'd brought them to the once over. Smiling when she recognized their location, her eyes quickly widened at what she saw. A woman walked by them wearing glasses roughly the size of Vermont, with shoulder pads in her attire and hair so big Lois thought it might qualify as a mountain. She couldn't tear her eyes away as she spoke. "Sometimes, Smallville, I really wonder how some fashions got started."

"I can't explain the glasses or the hair, but the shoulder pads are just attempts to look more masculine and thus be taken more serious in the workplace. To even things out, as it were."

Lois rolled her eyes. "I know _that_, Smallville. I want to know who first thought that such a thing was a good ideaཀ Given the fact that we have a time machine, were I able to find that fact I would go back in time and smack him or her upside the head and promptly ask why the person was on drugs."

"Ah, gotcha."

Pulling off the backpack, Lois handed it off to Clark and cracked her back a couple times. With one last stretch, she straightened out. Pulling her sunglasses out of her pocket, Lois slipped them on. "So, where do we want to go?"

"Considering we have no money that's viable in the year 1986, I'm going to say somewhere that doesn't require us to spend money."

"That does seem to limit our options."

"We could always go places and peruse, if nothing else. It would give you ample opportunity to make fun of the clothes, along with pretty much everything else sold in this year."

Lois reached over and clasped her hand in his, smiling at him. "We could always just go for a walk. We don't do that nearly enough in 2016."

He smiled at her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "A walk it is then."

Lois sat down on a bench, crossing her legs as she looked out at the park. "Now I remember why we don't go out on walks. Walks suck."

"I like going for walks with youཀ"

Lois gave Clark a reassuring pat on the leg as he sat down next to her. "It's not the company during the walk, it's the utter lack of activity. I'm kind of accustomed to not having much in the way of downtime when it comes to my free time, and while I like relaxing, I'd rather curl up with a book than just go walk. What the hell does walking accomplish? Oooh, I got exercise, except not really because it doesn't get the heart rate up."

"Ya know, this may just be the oddest rant I've ever heard you go off on, and that's saying something after the steel toed boots rant of 2008."

"This isn't a rant, Smallville, it's an observation about how there could be no more useless task than getting up and going for a walk. I understand it if you're an old couple that wants to get out and do something together, but being the ripe old age of 30, I'm just not a big fanཀ If I have time to kill, I'll do something with Casey and Ryan, or if I want to get away from them for a while and you're available I'll sequester myself and read a book, an activity I previously mentioned. At least then I feel like I'm accomplishing something.

"I mean, if it's just once in a while and you don't live in the middle of the city, I get it. Fresh air and all that. Or perhaps one does live in the city but is out in the country for a little while, such as us when we go out to the farm. I've been there a million times and there are still things out on that land that I haven't seen, which is a good reason for a walk. If I tried to do this every day, though, it would drive me nuts. It's similar to why I don't get people that go to a track for exercise. How do the people that do that not get bored of looking at the same thing over and over?"

Clark scooted closer to her and she leaned over, resting herself against his body. "I think it's the focus to get into or stay in shape that allows them to run around in endless circles, Lo. Don't quote me on that, since I don't have to do that, but I imagine that would be a reason."

"Hell, I work to stay in shape, but you don't see me doing something ridiculously monotonous to stay trim."

"Lois, you swim laps in Chloe's heated pool to stay in shape. With your fear of drowning, I have no idea why you chose that way to exercise, but whatever. On topic, how is that any better than running for exercise in terms of monotony?"

"I have Chloe there to swim with me or keep me company."

"Well, that would certainly keep the monotony from happening," Clark said as he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her a little closer to his body. "I don't know how you two actually get any swimming done, though, as much as you always converse. I'm also not sure how you haven't run out of things to talk about yet."

Lois smiled, watching some people walk by. "Chloe and I tend to race a lot, and since we swim together most of the time while her part-time nanny keeps an eye on the kids, we have a good amount of time to do it. This generally culminates in things like who can complete forty laps first."

She heard Clark chuckle. "Do I need to ask who wins?"

"Actually we tend to split pretty evenly. You've seen the dry erase board by the pool with all the marks on it, right?"

"It's huge, so it's hard to miss."

"Right. That's our tally board. The marks on the left are her wins, the marks on the right are mine. I think she's ahead in the total count right now."

Clark shifted a little bit, and Lois just sat still as he got himself situated again. "There are a ton of marks on that board, Lois. How long have you two been keeping track of your pool races?"

"Uh, well, let's think. Ryan was born January 3rd, 2014. I started doing laps to lose the baby weight a couple months after that. Despite using swimming to keep from gaining too much weight while pregnant, my endurance was crap, so Chloe didn't start racing me for another few months so that it would actually be a challenge. That puts us in June of 2014, and since it's September 2016, that would make it 27 months worth of races."

"_What_? You've been keeping track that long?"

"Why do you think she bought the big board, Smallville?" Lois bit her lip as she went deeper into thought. "Let's see, when we first started we did one race a week. We're now up to two races three times a week. The highest number of weeks was two races twice a week, and the 6 races a week is only a last fifteen weeks thing, so given that..." Lois let her voice trail off as she did the math in her head. "I'd say 475 is a good, if rough, estimate of how many times we've raced. I'd say the count is about 255 to 220 in her favor, mostly because she won a lot at the beginning. I've been catching up, though."

"What happens when Chloe gets pregnant?"

Lois frowned. She hadn't thought about that since she'd found out Chloe and Bruce were in active procreation attempts. "I imagine that she'll want to cut back from six races a week to two or three. Of course, once her stomach starts getting a pronounced bump, I guess the races will have to be put on hold until their little Batbaby is born. It won't be her wanting to do less, I bet, so much as the extra weight, not to mention the drag a bump sticking down into the water would create."

Sighing, Lois sat up away from Clark's body and proceeded to slouch down against the bench. "Damn, that's too bad. On the upside, I'll definitely gain some ground once we start up again. Another upside is that we'll have another niece or nephew. Downside? Now I'll be swimming laps all by my lonesome again."

"You still have some time before that happens, at least. Since Chloe seems to think it doubtful that she'll be pregnant after just the one time she and Bruce got together this month, that gives you more time."

"True. Hopefully this happens sooner rather than later for them, though." Standing up off the bench, Lois stretched a second. "I'm bored. You want to do some more exploration?"

"I thought the monotony of walking was annoying you."

"It was, but now I've vented my pent up annoyance and can therefore do more walking without blowing a gasket."

Clark stood up and smiled at her. "Fair enough."

Walking with her hands in her pockets, Lois stopped in front of a department store, turning her head and looking at the display in the window. "Let's go in here, Smallville."

He came and stood beside her. "Did you rethink my earlier perusing suggestion?"

"Well, since I'm tired of walking again, I figure it can't hurt anything to go in here and take a look around, see what I'm missing out on by being 30 in thirty years."

Heading inside, Lois walked slowly as she passed some clothes on her right. She reached out and ran her hand across the fabric of the last few pieces before going deeper into the store. She grinned as she saw a big display of dustbusters in front of her, claiming to be the best dust busters on the market. Jeez, how long would it be until those things went out of style? Well, not out of style so much as just falling out of favor. There was still the occasional late night infomercial for one that she'd see if Ryan couldn't sleep.

She picked one up and waved it at Clark. "Your family ever have one of these, Smallville?"

"Yeah, my mom had one for a few years when I was young. My dad kept one near his workbench until he died because it was good for cleaning up after he had to work on something."

"We never had one," Lois said, "at least not until Lucy and I moved in with Chloe's family. My dad was never going to use one, and my mom may have used one but I don't remember it."

Stepping onto the escalator, Lois turned her back towards where they were going and smiled at her husband. "So, how are you enjoying your time in 1986?"

"It's very enjoyable. I always like to see a planet before I land on it, anyway, so this is like a scouting trip for me."

"Very true. Too bad you won't know that you went on a scouting mission until about 29 years after the fact, but those are the breaks." Turning around as she came off the elevator, Lois bumped into somebody, knocking them both to the floor. Embarrassed, she picked herself up and offered a hand to the guy that was on the floor. "I'm so sorry. Are you all right?"

He took her hand and she helped pull him up. He smiled at her and Lois had to fight against going slack jawed. It was Gabeཀ Of all the people to run into, literally and figuratively, she wouldn't have bet on him. Good lord did he look youngཀ

"Don't worry about it. Mistakes happen and nothing's broken, so everything's cool."

He started to walk off, but Lois couldn't help herself. "Gabe, right?" She glanced at Clark, who was frowning, but she shrugged and looked back at Gabe. He turned and faced them.

"Have we met before?"

Crap. What could she use? Ohཀ Had a class together in college always worked. If you did it with enough conviction, people always believed that they'd forgotten you. "I'm Tanya. We had a couple economics classes together in school, remember?"

Gabe shook his head. "Sorry, I don't. What professors?"

This was one of those times where she really wished she had listened better. "God, uh... what was his name? I think it started with a V..."

"You're thinking of Vandenburg, aren't you?"

"Yesཀ" she said as she snapped her fingers and remembered him telling stories about how boring those classes were. "Vandenburg. God, were those classes boring!"

He smiled and laughed a bit. "Yeah, but in the end it was worth it. Boring as they were, they were some of the more informative classes during all my school years. So, what have you been up to since then?"

"Well, I got married," she said, pointing back to Clark. "This is my husband Craig." They shared a quick handshake before she continued. "We've got two kids and are living out in Smallville. We're in town for a long weekend. His mom is watching the kids so we're just exploring the city, seeing how it's changed." Never hurt to throw some truth into the lie.

"Oh, you'll never get me away from Metropolis. I love it here. Nothing against Smallville, but I don't think I could take the small town quiet, ya know?"

Lois laughed. "Quiet? Smallville is the loudest small town you'll ever hear of." She remembered that this was pre-meteors, and decided to add on to that statement. "I know you don't hear a lot now, but if you keep your eye on it I bet the town will explode into the headlines in the next year or two."

"Really? Odd place for headlines to come out of, isn't it?"

"You'd think so," Lois said, remembering her time in the town. "Anyway, how about you? Married? Kids?" She knew the answer, but one had to keep up appearances.

"Married," he said as he held up his left hand to show his ring. "My wife and I have actually been trying to get pregnant recently, so we're hoping this is the month."

Lois did some quick math in her head in regards to Chloe's birthday, and figured it would still be a few months before they got pregnant. "Well then I wish you all the luck. Kids are great."

"Yeah, that's what I hear. I've never had much experience with them, but my wife Moira used to babysit and some of her older cousins had kids that she would look after when with family. I think the positive side of kids got played up in her mind because she only took care of them for a couple hours at a time."

"Understandable. I think a lot of people go into having kids with a lot of idealized visions of what it will be."

"And it generally turns out completely different," Gabe said, nodding as she smiled. "But, what are you going to do? Never know unless you try, right? Anyway, I should be going. Moira is waiting for me at home. I just stopped by here to pick up a present for her. Oh, and I'll be sure to keep an eye on those Smallville headlines. It was nice seeing you again."

"Good to see you too, Gabe. Take care, and good luck."

She watched as he walked off, smiling. Turning to Clark, she noticed his frown and sighed. "I couldn't help myselfཀ The man virtually raised me after my mom died."

"I know, and I respect that, but don't you think it's a little dangerous doing something like th-"

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Not really."

Letting her arms rest on her legs, Lois tried to figure out how to explain this better. "You know how we often come back to our old argument of is a hamburger a sandwich or not?"

"It's not."

"It really is. Anyway, it's like that. We always use the same arguments and logic to explain why we think what we think, no matter how wrong your logic and choice of argument is, and so it's like we're repeating ourselves. Sometimes I feel like I'm in that situation, except I'm not even having the argument with the same person, yet somehow the same words are being used."

"First, a hamburger is not a sandwich and you'll never convince me otherwise because my logic and reasoning is sound. Second, Lo, if you feel like you're having the same argument or conversation over and over again, maybe you need to make some new friends."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

"I like to think so. And it's probably true. We both work way too much and play far too little."

"You have a fianceཀ How is that working too much and playing too little?"

Lois watched as Chloe sat up in her chair, pulling the pencil she'd been balancing on her face off and dropping it on her desk. "Yeah, ok, that's true for me. What's your excuse?"

Lois stuttered for a moment, trying to find something to say. "I, uh... I'm focusing on my careerཀ It's hard work being the best reporter at a world renowned newspaperཀ"

"Well I'm in the same boat, yet here I am, six months from my wedding. Speaking of which, are you going to have a date for that?"

"It's six months awayཀ I think I have time before I need to find a date for that, Chlo."

"Yeah, well, since I haven't seen or even heard about you going on a date in months, I wanted to see if you were planning ahead on not having a date for that." Sighing, Chloe got up and walked over to her, leaning on the desk. "I'm worried about you, Lois. You're hung up on a man that you're never going to get."

Lois swallowed, looking down at the ground. She didn't have any words to respond to that.

"I know that he's kind of weird, but Clark and Lana are really happy together. They were happy when he got the job as your partner here, and two years later they're still happy, plus they're now engaged. I still don't get how you even got hung up on him in the first place, knowing he was already taken."

"He's just..." She trailed off and sighed. "You know the kind of guy I always find, Chloe. Line up a few dozen and I'll always pick out the clingy guy, the annoying guy or the asshole. Hell, probably the one that's all three. Clark's the exact opposite of that. I wish I could change how I feel, but I can't seem to move on."

"And you never will until you request a transfer to the London branch like I suggested. I love you, Lo, but if you never get away from him you're always going to be this sad, lonely woman that can never have the guy she wants. You need separation from him."

Sighing and slumping back into her chair, Lois ran a hand over her face. "I know. Once you're married and I've done all my maid of honor duties, I'm going to put in the request to transfer to London." Chloe gave her a look, and Lois made an X over her heart. "I promise."

"Good. I'll miss you around here, cuz, but you need that to happen. I wish you wouldn't wait, but I appreciate that fact that you're going to."

Being honest with herself, Lois knew it wasn't because of Chloe that she was staying that long. She'd be true to her word and get the transfer after the wedding, but until then she had six months of getting to be around Clark Kent. She wouldn't trade that for anything.


	13. Chapter 13

-- Chapter 13

Looking in the mirror, Clark adjusted his tie. Frowning, he loosened it so that it hung open and unbuttoned the collar button. He hated wearing a tie. Lana knew very well that he hated wearing a tie, mostly because he'd told her near to three hundred times. Three _million_ times, even. But, she always arranged for them to have dinner at these trendy hot spots where she insisted he wear a tie, even if it wasn't necessary. Why was going out to dinner more work than actually going to work?

Pulling the tie off and tossing it on the bed, he figured one dinner at some over priced and small-portioned restaurant without a tie wouldn't kill her. Running his hands through his hair, he ruffled it up and made it look less like he was trying to be somebody he wasn't. Looking in the mirror again, he nodded as he saw the man he was and not the man that Lana insisted he be.

Flipping off the bedroom light as he walked out, Clark made his way into the living room and flopped down onto the couch, sighing as he sank down into it comfortably. With a quick reach to his left, the remote was in hand and he flipped on the television, finding a replay of an EPL soccer game to watch while he waited for Lana to get home so they could go have their snack sized dinner.

Rolling his neck and shoulders a bit, Clark relaxed deeper into the couch. This was the most comfortable couch he'd ever been on, which was exactly why he'd bought it. When they'd moved in together, Lana had allowed him to pick out one piece of furniture for the living room, so he'd gone out and found the softest, most plush couch in Metropolis.

He'd thought it was brilliant. She had been less than pleased and made them go to couples counseling to see why he had to be passive aggressive about things. How the hell was he supposed to know that 'one piece of furniture' translated to 'a lamp, or possibly a pillow that his mom had knit, but definitely not a couch' for Lana? It was a year later and he still wasn't sure what she'd thought he was being passive aggressive about.

And of course Lana had taken them to her favorite counselor, a.k.a. Dr. Men Are Always Wrong, and she'd sided with Lana as she asked him what made him mad and want to lash out. He'd been forced to say, "Pointless fighting over what Lana said and what Lana really meant certainly does the trickཀ" He'd then been lectured on being more understanding to Lana's 'subtle clues'. That had prompted him to lecture the good doctor on why she was the most useless person he'd ever met, which was saying something, and had proceeded to leave.

That had gone over with Lana about as well as the couch.

All their friends had sided with him, though, considering what she'd said, and so she'd caved and stopped complaining about the couch. Lois had been the most passionate in pointing out Lana's ridiculousness, which had confused him a little bit, but he wasn't going to complain. That was about the time Lana had started suggesting, infrequently but she did it, that he ask Perry to be on his own.

He'd slept on the awesome couch for a week while she'd been upset, but since it was the best damn couch ever made it hadn't been the worst thing in the world. It was one of the better weeks of sleep he'd had in years.

Once she'd gotten past it Lana had gone ahead and decorated the living room in what he'd come to call trinket sheik. He wasn't quite sure how she'd done it, but somehow she'd acquired every little figurine and bauble that had ever existed and had them in display cases around the living room. It was ridiculous.

The unicorns were the worst. There was a whole case dedicated to them, one as tall as he was. He'd never understood why she loved unicorns so much. He knew that horses were near and dear to her, but she'd always been very partial to a horse with a horn on its head. While she had a few horse figures around the room, it was nowhere near the number of unicorns. He'd had to hold his tongue on every occasion he'd wanted to tell her it looked like a twelve year old had stolen all their adult stuff and replaced it with some shiny, gleaming nightmare.

But, it was what she wanted, so he didn't say anything. Were he to do so, they'd probably end up at the office of Dr. All Men Are Wrong again. Telling the doctor how useless she was would probably make him feel better, but it was probably best to just not to piss Lana off and force such a happening.

He'd always been told that you had to work at relationships to maintain them, so he put up with all of it because apparently love wasn't supposed to be easy. Granted, he had no idea what an easy relationship felt like, but that wasn't the point.

He imagined it would be something like his partnership with Lois. Despite her misgivings about being partnered with 'some hick out of Whocaresville,' as she'd put it in her own, very Lois way, they'd clicked as a team and everything just worked. Their words went well together. Their personalities clashed, but in ways that led them into highly entertaining battles of words.

They agreed on a lot of things, though, and he'd never understand why Chloe didn't think a hamburger wasn't a sandwich. Two pieces of bread with meat between them equals sandwichཀ When he'd given his opinion not long after they'd been introduced, Chloe had told him that since they'd known each other for all of twenty minutes his opinion didn't get to count yet. Now that it had been two years, he always enjoyed finding them in the middle of that argument so that he could be heard and not dismissed so easily.

He really enjoyed being partnered with Lois, and virtually partnered with Chloe since she seemed to help with most of their articles in one way or another. They were both very easy going, but with a no nonsense attitude when it came to work. It made sense to him. He was really looking forward to Chloe's wedding, though, because Lois had told him a dozen times how she was going to be out of her mind plastered by the end of the reception. Drunk Lois was _hilarious_.

He liked the guy Chloe was marrying, too. Aidan was a great guy, and one of those people that always seemed to find himself at the center of attention. Chloe had called him her Irish magnet for as long as Clark had known them, and she liked to explain how once he'd turned on his Gaelic charm she'd never been able to escape his pull. They made love look a whole lot easier than he and Lana did.

He really wished that Lois would find somebody, though. He knew that she loved hanging out with them, but she always seemed to leave early, saying something about a fifth wheel. He hadn't seen her go out on more than four or five dates with any one guy since they'd become partners, and she hadn't told him about having a date in probably six months. He never said anything about it, figuring that if she wanted to talk she'd say something. Plus, he really didn't want to be one of those people that pointed out how somebody else was alone while he was in a relationship.

Lana had never had any such predilections.

Why, he had no idea, but within two months of Lana meeting Lois she'd started trying to fix her up with people. Hell, she'd gone so far as to fix Lois up with Pete, which had been ten kinds of disastrous. She brought up the fact Lois didn't have anybody every time they were all together, and probably when he wasn't around, which had led him to keep their meetings either brief or non-existent. He'd never understood why Lana was hell-bent on seeing Lois fixed up, and when he'd asked Lana had just blown it off as wanting to see her happy.

That had been an interesting argument. When he'd raised the point that maybe Lois was happy as she was, Lana had launched into some odd tirade about how nobody was happy alone and that he defended Lois too much and never agreed with his fiancée. This had led to him having to explain how saying maybe Lois was happy was not a defense of her, but simply an observation on how Lois seemed happy. He'd about fallen over when her response to that was that he shouldn't be worried about Lois' happiness. The fact that she'd brought it up apparently meant nothing.

Fortunately they'd avoided the useless doctor, but he'd ended up sleeping on the comfortable couch again. He was _really_ glad he'd made sure that couch stuck around.

Running a hand over his face, Clark flipped away from the now finished soccer game and found some baseball to watch. Putting his feet up on the coffee table, he wished that Lana would get there. Checking his watch, he wished a little harder that Lana would get there. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he scrolled to her number and listened as the phone rang. All he got was voicemail, and decided to leave a message this time.

"Hey Lana, it's me. Just wondering where you are. Our reservation for a small meal is in twenty minutes and you stressed how you didn't want to be late, so I'm ready to go. If you're still at work just call me and let me know so we can meet there. Love you."

Flipping his phone shut and stuffing it back into his pocket, Clark zoned out and watched the baseball. Exhaling slowly a few minutes later, he let his eyes slide closed.

"Smallvilleཀ What the hell are you doing?"

Clark rolled his eyes and looked over to Lois, who was standing next to his desk and speaking around a small yellow pencil situated between her teeth, which she promptly tossed away. "I'm checking to see if we can get an interview with Mr. Telman, Lois, like you asked me to."

"No, not thatཀ" She pointed down at his crotch and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you have _that_ going on?"

Clark looked down and noticed his tented pants, then back up at Lois and shrugged. "The mind wanders, ya know? Just one of those things that comes and goes."

"Did you just refer to your penis as something that comes?"

He looked up at her and grinned. "I may have."

"Mind if I see what that's like?" She spun his chair so that he was facing her and quickly sat down on his lap, rubbing up against him with her butt. He had to stifle a groan as she kept wiggling. Before he knew what was happening she was hiking up her skirt and sitting down again before unzipping his pants and pulling him out. She stroked a couple times with her hand before lowering herself onto him.

This time the groan couldn't be stifled. She felt... the way she... Clark lowered his hands to her hips as he realized he could no longer form complete sentences in his mind. She started moving, up and down, up and down, moaning as she moved faster and faster.

He was so close, but he held back. She looked back over her shoulder at him, grinning lasciviously before biting her lip. "Oh God, Clark, I'm so close. Clark, oh Clark... _Smallville,_ I'm about to..."

"Come on, Clark. Get up."

Blinking, Clark opened his eyes and found Lana staring down at him. Shaking his head once and adjusting his very tight pants, he looked up at her curiously. "What happened?"

"You were asleep, and by the looks of it having a very good dream. Was I in it?"

"Of course," he said, smiling at her. No use telling her that his recurring sex dream focused on one Lois Lane. No telling how many times he'd have to see Dr. Useless if he confessed to that. "What time is it?"

"Not long after ten. I had to work late and couldn't get away. I tried calling half a dozen times, though I can see why none of my attempts were successful. You must have fallen asleep not long before I started calling."

"Yeah," he said, sitting up. "I left a message on your voicemail asking where you were, and fell asleep not long after that, which was about twenty minutes before our reservation. But, ya know, not over paying for a tiny portion will never be something I complain about."

Lana sighed and stood up, walking into their bedroom. Clark pulled off his sport coat and followed, tossing it on the bed as he sat down on its edge. "Why the sigh?"

"I don't understand why you don't like the restaurants we try, Clark. These are the best places to eat not only in the state, but in the Midwest. It's not about portion; it's about presentation and taste. It's about feeling the flavors explode on every part of your tongue."

"And as I've said to you many times, if I'm going to virtually sign away my paycheck just to have one meal, I expect that one meal to last me days, not three bites. I don't need two bites of Portuguese cod exploding on my tongue, I need a t-bone steak that I can enjoy for half an hour. I want to eat and feel full, not eat and feel like I just got ripped off. I'm never going to be the guy you want me to be when it comes to food."

"Oh, you'll come around. I'm going to break you of your meat and potatoes love and show you what food should be."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "Pretentious?"

Lana gasped. "Did you just call me pretentious?"

Clark stared at her a moment before standing up off the bed. "I'd call that a radical interpretation of the text, Lana."

"That's not an answer!"

"Considering it came after your question, it really is," Clark mumbled before looking at her. "I called the food pretentious. Hell, by association I'm going to call the chefs that do that nonsense pretentious."

"But what about me?"

"What about you?"

"Do you think I'm pretentious?"

Oh to hell with it. She wanted to make this about her, so he'd jump into yet another trap. "Yes, Lana, I think you're pretentious. You run an art gallery full of paintings that look like things a mentally challenged duck finger-painted, and yes I know ducks don't have fingers. Then you sell them for _insane_ sums. After that, you like to go get tiny portions of food for huge prices at places pretentious people like, so yes, you ARE pretentious!"

Lana just stared at him, the coldness in her eyes not making him flinch a bit. It wasn't like it was the first time he'd gotten the ocular frost treatment. "I think you should leave, Clark."

"Fine, whatever. I'll sleep on the couch." Clark moved to grab his pillow, but stopped as Lana spoke.

"No, I think you should leave the apartment. You hardly consider sleeping on that ridiculous thing you call a couch punishment, so you should leave the apartment for the night."

Clark rubbed at the spot in between his eyes. "Seriously? You're going with that argument again?"

"Do I sound like I'm joking?"

"You rarely do," he said as he sighed. Grabbing his jacket, he shrugged it on. "Whatever. Call me when you feel I've been sufficiently punished."

Walking out of the apartment, Clark ran a hand through his hair and took the stairs down instead of the elevator. Walking outside, he looked around for a minute before pulling out his phone and scrolling to a familiar name. It rang once before it was answered. "Hey. Got room for one more again? Great, thanks. I'll be there in ten minutes."

Lois opened her door, crossing her arms over her chest as Clark smiled at her. "What'd you do this time? Sneeze loudly during the opera?"

Clark walked past her and Lois pushed the door closed, turning and following him into the living room. "Nothing so attention getting, no. This was a simple case of me not being able to hold my tongue when I should have."

"What did you say?"

Clark let out what appeared to be an exasperated breath as he took off his jacket and put it over the back of a chair. "I called her pretentious."

Lois nodded, then frowned. "Why?"

"Long version or short?"

"Long, of course. You two get into fights over the most innocuous things that I always like the details."

"Ah, to be entertaining," Clark said, smiling at her as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, we were supposed to have dinner at some trendy place tonight. About twenty minutes before our reservation I fell asleep. Lana had to work late anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. She woke me up from what was shaping up to be a very, _very_ good dream, and in my tired state I made a comment about not being upset over paying too much for too little.

"This, of course, led to me being succinctly told that, more or less, I don't understand food. If that's food, I don't want to understand it. I would much rather understand a nice steak."

Lois sighed. Steak sounded really good. "Wouldn't everybody?"

"Apparently not. Anyway, I told her I was never going to be the guy that enjoyed two bites of food for dinner and she said she was going to break me of my meat and potatoes ways, which is apparently a bad way to be now. She went on to say that she was going to show me what food should be, and that's when I brought up the pretentious part. She took me calling the food pretentious to be calling her pretentious. I countered that the chefs were pretentious, but then she asked me point blank if she was pretentious and I got tired of evading."

"Understandable."

"Well, to you anyway. In my defense, though, I always thought that she knew she was pretentious. I mean, everybody else does. Do pretentious people not know that they're pretentious? Do they simply think they're just _that _important?"

Lois winked at him. "I wouldn't know, Smallville."

"And for that," he said as he walked a little closer to her, "I am eternally grateful. Now, I see that you're dressed to do something outside your apartment. How about we go get some food, because in all my thoughts and talk of food this evening, I've yet to have any."

Lois smiled at him. She, of course, was not going to tell him that when he'd called she'd been in pajamas and bunny slippers, curled up on the couch watching Dr. Zhivago, and had rushed to dress herself in something presentable. "Ya know, I could use some grub." Grub? Why the hell had she said grub? "I don't know why I said grub, but food sounds good."

"Awesome." Clark grabbed his jacket again and pulled it on. They walked over to the front door and Clark opened it for her, letting her out before pulling it closed behind him. She locked it and they stood there for a second. "So, where do you want to go?"

"Better question is what's still open? It's 10:30 on a Thursday night."

"Yeah, that's a good point. Wanna order some pizza?"

"Perfect."

Taking a bite of her pizza, Lois sat back and relaxed into the couch. She looked over at Clark and smiled. "Didn't I tell you this was the best pizza in the city?"

Clark nodded as he chewed. "It's certainly the best I've had, yes. Much better than the big chains. I haven't tried every single pizza place in the city, though, so I can't yet declare it the best."

"We can always ask the food editor guy, uh, Stu, what he thinks the best pizza place in town is."

Clark shook his head, speaking around a fresh bite. "Where's the fun in that? No, here's the plan: once a week we find a pizza place either one or both of us has never been to and eat there for lunch. We keep track of those we like and dislike, and when we've run out of places we narrow it down to the top, say, five and ties. After that, we do the process over again with those until we can declare a winner."

Lois swallowed and frowned. "That's a lot of pizza, Smallville. Are you trying to fatten me up or something?"

"Pffftཀ You're perfect as is, Lois. Plus, it's once a week for a while. If that fattens you up, you're going to need to get your metabolism checked with as much as you run."

"This again? I don't know why you find all my jogging weird."

"You run five miles six nights a week for no real reason, even when you work until midnightཀ It's not like you need to run _that_ much just to stay in shape. Hell, the only reason I called you tonight is because I knew you were going to be home since I saw you leave work with your gym bag in tow."

"I like being fit, Smallville."

Clark shrugged and sat forward a bit. "You go to a gym and run in circles for hours. I just don't get it. There are ten thousand better ways to spend your time, but you go run your ass off. Almost literally."

"I don't..." Lois stopped herself and closed her eyes, sighing before continuing. "I don't have anything else to do. When I'm done with work it's either go home and feel sorry for myself as I sit alone and watch tv, or I can go run and be alone with the other people in the gym. That's a better choice, at least for a while. After that, I come sit alone before I fall asleep." Lois dropped her gaze to the floor. "God, my life is sad."

"Why don't you do things with Chloe? Why don't you call _me_?"

"You've been engaged for about three months, Smallville, and Lana isn't going nuts over the wedding yet. Chloe went out of her mind after about three days of being engaged. Planning this, planning that, planning _every single detail_. As her maid of honor, I've been helping. Do you know what hanging around her makes me want to do? Leave! I can't take the obsession anymore. I love her like a sister, but if I have to listen to 'Blah blah _flowers_, blah blah _centerpieces_' one more time I'm going to be sent up the river for murder!"

Clark looked like he wanted to say something but took a bite of pizza instead. Lois did the same, closing her eyes as she chewed, not believing what she'd confessed to him. It was like she'd lost the cork to keep her craziness in its metaphorical bottle.

"That doesn't explain why you don't call me, Lois. I'm not generally all that busy once the work day is done."

"You have Lana."

"That really depends on any number of things, mostly of how long she works and how personal she decides to take things on a given day."

"Yeah, well, she doesn't like me. Well, more to the point, she doesn't like me being around you."

Lois watched as Clark's usual smile melted into puzzlement. "What? What do you mean she doesn't like us together? I mean, she started suggesting that I try to get my own assignments after you defended me in the couch incident, but I thought she was just mad you didn't take her side."

"Smallville, I like that you always think the best of people, and I respect that, but..." Stopping herself, Lois bit back the words she really wanted to say. "Ya know what? Let's leave it at her being mad I defended you."

"Lois, say what you want to say."

Lois put her pizza down and wiped off her hands as she sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "I think what it boils down to is that Lana is afraid of losing you. Insecurities, basically. Because I'm the only single woman you know, way to go me, she doesn't like it when we spend time together alone. I am a threat until you have a ring on your finger, and maybe even then, or until I have a guy of my own. It's why she's attempted to set me up with somebody so many times, I imagine. It's not her wanting to see me happy, it's her wanting me out of the way.

"I'm not saying this about Lana because I don't like her, Smallville. She's a fine person and you love her, very much. To be honest, sometimes I wonder why with as much as you two fight, but that's just the curiosity of a perpetually single woman. Hell, there's a good chance that I'm all kinds of wrong on this. As you can tell by the words perpetually single, I don't have much chance to be insecure. Well, not about that, anyway."

"I've loved Lana as long as I can remember," Clark said quietly. "And you're not wrong. She's been afraid of losing me since day one of our relationship. I've always just shrugged it off as Lana being Lana. I know I shouldn't, but I love her and don't know how to change things I've done since I was a teenager. I'm pretty sure I'll forgive her anything at this point." He smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You know what that's like?"

Lois swallowed and shook her head. "I, uh... the simple answer is I don't think so."

"What's the complicated answer? No, wait, nevermind. I'm not going to pry."

"After everything you've told me about your relationship with Lana, I think I owe you some openness, Smallville." Lois dry washed her hands a second before speaking. "I was close to being in love, once, I think. If it wasn't love, it was as close as I've ever been. I was 22 and an intern at the Planet, the guy 26. Chris was career Air Force, and we'd been together for six months when he got sent overseas.

"Two weeks after he left, his plane crashed and he was killed. I don't know if I loved him, and obviously I never got the chance to figure it out. There hasn't been anybody long term since him. As a result of that relationship, I seem to gravitate towards guys I have no future with, and it's really not by choice. I've yet to break the pattern so I don't try anymore. It's why you've never seen me have a boyfriend. I'm self-aware enough to keep from getting too deep into something I shouldn't." She paused and smiled sadly to herself. "At least there's that," she murmured.

Clark moved a little closer to her, and her self-awareness started blaring in her head that this was a bad idea. Unfortunately, the really not caring part of her brain totally overpowered her self-awareness. When he wrapped an arm around her shoulders the overjoyed part of her brain took over, if just for a second. Comforting attempts from Clark were as close as she'd ever get to anything real with him.

"I'm really sorry, Lois, about Chris. It's kind of crazy that you're so aware of what you're doing that you can stop yourself before getting into anything."

"My own special brand of crazy."

"Well, we all have our own. Have you ever talked to anybody about what's happening? I mean, not like this, but professionally?"

She nodded. "Yeah, a few people." Well, Chloe before Aidan, Chloe with Aidan and Chloe engaged to Aidan, anyway. She really did seem like three different people at times. "The first two didn't really help, but the third has made a suggestion that I'm going to try."

"What's that?"

"She suggested that I need to get away from Metropolis, from where everything in my life has happened. It's something worth trying, as much as I'm going to miss my hometown." Lois stood up and took a few steps away before turning back to face him. "After Chloe's wedding I'm transferring to the Daily Planet branch in London. I don't know when I'll be back."

Clark stared at her for a minute, and said something just as she was getting uncomfortable. "But... _wow_. You're really leaving?"

"I have to. If I don't, I'll never be able to fix my life. I'll never have what you have with Lana, or what Chloe has with Aidan."

Clark rubbed at his face for a moment. "Yeah, I'd aim for the latter rather than the former. Chloe and Aidan are the real deal. Lana and I are together, but we have an expiration date. We're both afraid of being alone. Two cowards determined to go through life together, no matter how poorly they get along." He looked up at her. "I'm gonna miss you, but if this is what it takes for you to be happy, then I'm all for it."

Lois smiled sadly. This was the beginning of the end for their partnership. "Thank you, Clark."


	14. Chapter 14

-- Chapter 14

Lois had to fight the urge to yawn, blinking a couple times as she tensed her jaw a second before letting it relax again as the yawn passed. Letting her eyes roam from where they were supposed to be for a second, she scanned the people that had assembled for Chloe's wedding. Perry looked like he was keeping one eye on the couple and one eye on something in his lap, which she guessed was his phone as it scrolled headlines. If he was like that all the time, she had no idea how his wife could put up with it.

She found Jimmy sitting not too far from him, the usual bow tie adorning his attire. There was a nervousness about him, and it confused her for a second until she took notice of the woman sitting next to him. A beautiful woman being nearby always seemed to make Jimmy a bit antsy. While it was a nice bit of an ego boost to see him get nervous around her, she hoped he'd get over it. He deserved to be with the beautiful women, not be intimidated by them.

Lois had been surprised by the realization of how much she would miss Jimmy. She was still planning on saying a proper goodbye to him at the reception, which was now doubling as her going away party at Chloe's insistence. But it had been during her final day at work a few days before when it had really hit her that she wouldn't see him, or anybody else there, everyday anymore. She'd known that she was abandoning her safety blanket of work, but it hadn't hit her until the final day that it wasn't just the work that was the safety blanket, but the people that she saw at work.

Then she spotted Clark, with Lana at his side. Swallowing thickly, she didn't let her eyes stay on him long. Not seeing him everyday, if it didn't drive her to depression, was probably the best thing for her. She could never have him the way she wanted him; he was too devoted to Lana to ever leave her, and he was too good a man to ever cheat, though she would never let herself be the other woman. If she knew anything in life, she knew that she deserved better than that. She may never have it, but she deserved it.

Shifting a little bit, Lois refocused on what the priest was saying. Being Catholic, Aidan had won Chloe over to having a Catholic wedding, even if she wasn't going to join the church. What this meant, though, was that they were most of the way through the ceremony and Lois was about ready to fall over from boredom. She never begrudged people having the wedding they wanted, but if she ever got married it was not going to be a long ceremony.

Lois had to keep from rolling her eyes at herself. She refused to be the woman that goes to a wedding and suddenly starts thinking about what her own would be like. It was far too normal, and she prided herself and being far from normal. Well, in that respect anyway. She wouldn't mind being normal and having a wedding of her own one day, maybe with a good guy that she really loved.

Not that something like that could ever happen. Knowing herself, she was never going to settle down with anything less than a man that loved her completely, and since her dating history for the last six years consisted of annoying ass holes and an obsession with Clark, she didn't think that finding a guy that loved her completely was in the cards.

Stupid cards.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Lois snapped out of her thoughts and started clapping with everybody else in the church, smiling as Chloe and Aidan kissed, then started walking back down the aisle. She watched them go for a second before taking the arm of a groomsman and following along.

"What kind of pink drinks do you make?" When the bartender raised an eyebrow at him, Clark rolled his eyes. "It's for my fiancée. While you're considering what you can make that's pink, why don't you get me a scotch on the rocks." As the man went about his business Clark turned around and surveyed the room; people dancing, talking and just having a good time. It was a good reception.

Turning back around, he took his drink from the bartender, and a second later took some pink concoction from him and walked back across the room to where Lana had been. Unfortunately, she was no longer there.

Looking around, he found that she was standing and talking to somebody. By the way her hands were balled into fists and sitting on her hips, she didn't appear happy. Clark couldn't see who she was talking to, though, because his vision was blocked by a few people. Frowning, he used his x-ray vision to look through the people for a second and found that Lana was talking to Lois. Why in the world was she talking to Lois with her fists on her hips?

Making his way through various groups of people over to them, he plastered on a smile. "Hey, didn't expect to see you two together."

Lana took her drink from him. "I was just saying our goodbyes to Lois."

Clark glanced at Lois for a second, who was keeping her eyes cast downward. He let his smile fall away as he looked back to Lana. "You were saying _our_ goodbyes?"

"Yes. Once I'm done with my drink it's time we should go, and so I wanted to make sure that Lois knew we would miss her. Since you'll be with me, you won't get a chance to say much of a goodbye so I was doing it for you."

Clark scratched at his forehead for a second as he contemplated what she said. Shaking his head, he smiled at Lois. "I'm going to go talk to her outside a for moment. Will you hold my drink?"

She took it from him with a tight smile. "If you take too long I may hold it in my stomach."

Clark rolled his eyes playfully before smiling at her. "If I'm longer than five minutes, it's all yours." Turning to Lana, he nodded towards the door. "We need to talk." Walking outside, Clark saw that there was nobody around and turned around, facing Lana. "Why do you think you can say goodbye to Lois for me?"

"I'm your fiancée, Clark."

He waited for elaboration, but didn't get any. "That doesn't mean you get to speak for me. She's my closest friend that I'm not engaged to, Lana, not to mention she's been my partner for two and a half years. I'm going to say goodbye to her for myself. Plus, why do you want to leave so early? The reception has only been going for an hour."

"Because we've been here long enough, Clark." Lana downed the rest of her drink and walked over to the steps by leading into the reception hall, putting her empty glass down on the bottom step. "As for Lois, you don't need to say goodbye. You've had plenty of time together and I'm sure she knows you wish her well."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am."

Clark crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her. "I'm not leaving yet. Chloe's a good friend and I want to stay at her reception a little longer. Plus, I'm saying goodbye to Lois."

"Why are you so obsessed with her?" Lana screamed at him.

Clark took a step back, beyond surprised at what she'd said, not to mention how she'd said it. "_What_?"

"She's all you talk about!"

"Lana, I might mention her a few times a week. What do you expect, though? She's been my partner at work for years. I don't really see how I could have not mentioned her whenever I did, because she's been a huge part of my professional life!"

"Lois this! Lois that! All you ever talk about when you get home from work is how you two did something together that day! It's always about her!"

"Well what was I supposed to do? Call her Jane so that you could delude yourself into thinking that Lois wasn't my partner?"  
Lana rolled her eyes. "You would never hear me talk about somebody I work with that much."

"I assume not because all you talk about are the awful, AWFUL paintings that you sell! Do you ever listen to yourself, Lana? It's like nothing exists outside of the paintings!"

"Well at least I'm obsessed with something important! You're just stuck on some sad sack, messed up woman who couldn't get a man to love her if her life depended on it!"

Clark rubbed a hand across his face, not believing what was happening. "What the hell did Lois ever do to you? She's never been anything but friendly to the both of us, and for the life of me I can't understand why you've taken such a strong disliking to her!"

"Lois is just a bitch that you should've gotten away from a long time ago. Her moving to London is the best thing that's happened to you since you met me."

Clark almost took a step back in the venom in her voice. How had he never seen this in her before? "Is it going to be like this every time there's a single woman in my life, Lana?"

"A single woman is just a woman looking to have sex with you."

"What... how..." Clark paused and took a second to organize his thoughts. "Are you insane? First off, that's the dumbest thing you've ever said. Secondly, are you ever going to trust me enough to not be so jealous every woman that comes along?"

"I'll always trust you once we're married."

"That's not going to change who I am, Lana, and if you don't trust me now how will things change?"

"They just will."

Clark shook his head. "No, they won't. You're not going to change, and that means you aren't going to trust me, doesn't it?" Lana was silent, and Clark heaved a sigh. "I don't get it. I never cheated on you. I never even contemplated on cheating on you, but you just had to be so insecure. Well I hope you're happy, because it cost us everything."

"What? What do you mean it cost us everything?"

"I mean I'm done. I can't do this anymore. You're never going to trust me and I don't want to deal with that for the rest of my life. I refuse to live a life where I'm ruled by somebody else's insecurities. It's a prison sentence. I'm tired of it. You can have the apartment and everything in it, except the couch. I'll get my clothes tomorrow morning."

Lana stepped up to him, placing a hand on his arm. "Clark, you're just angry. We've been together for eleven years. You don't want to just throw that away."

Clark pulled her hand on of him. "I didn't do this, Lana. This is a result of your actions. I hope you have a good life, I really do, but I can't be a part of it." Turning back towards the reception, Clark started up the stairs.

"Clark! Come back here, Clark! We aren't done yet! Damn it, Clark, come back here!"

Shaking his head, Clark ignored her and went back into the reception.

Tipping the glass up, Lois drained the last of the scotch Clark had handed her before going outside. She'd warned him that it might not be there when he got back, and it had been well over five minutes after they'd gone to talk when she'd started drinking it. Eh, it was an open bar, so it wasn't like he couldn't get another one for the same no cost. Putting the glass down on a table, Lois walked back out to the dance floor and started moving with the music as she found Chloe and Aidan. She grinned at her cousin, who grinned right back. "How are you enjoying your reception?"

"It's fantastic, Lo. How are you enjoying things?"

Putting her little confrontation with Lana aside, Lois grinned a little wider. "It's been great, Chloe. This is the best going away party I could've hoped for, especially since it's more of a celebration for you than me."

"Oh good lord. This is just as much for you as it is me, Lois."

"You just keep telling yourself that, Chlo. Say, is there anything you need?"

"I was going to go get myself a glass of water in a minute, but if you're offering..."

Lois smiled at her. "Say no more. The bride gets nothing for herself, not while Lois Lane is her cousin and maid of honor. One glass of water coming up."

Making her way over to the bar, Lois asked for a glass of water and was waiting for it when Clark sidled up next to her. She looked over at him, expecting to find him accompanied by Lana, but instead found that he was alone. "Hello again, Smallville. Where's Lana?"

"Probably headed home."

"Why aren't you with her?"

"Because I no longer want to be with a woman that doesn't trust me. So we're done."  
Lois stared at him for a second, eyes wide while she tried to find some words to say. She figured that yelling 'Woohoo!' and pulling him into a kiss wouldn't be the best thing. Not for him, anyway. "I, uh... wow, Clark. I'm sorry."

He took a swig of a drink she hadn't previously seen before answering. "Yeah, well, it is what it is. She couldn't find it in herself to trust me, not to mention she didn't like my best friend, so it isn't going to work, even after eleven years."

"Do you two have a chance to get back together?"

"Lana hasn't changed in all the years I've known her, so I seriously doubt it." He turned and faced her, smiling slightly. "But that's for another day, all right? Tonight is Chloe's night, as well as your going away party, but I do have one question for you."

"Shoot."

"How about we do one more article together before you leave?"

"I fly to London day after tomorrow, Smallvilleཀ How are we going to do an article that quickly?"

"It's just an interview that Perry gave me. In an out, won't take more than an hour." Clark took a sip of his drink and smiled at her. "What do you say, Lois?"

Running a hand back through her hair, Lois shrugged. "What the hell? Why not, right?"

"He _what_?"

Lois readjusted the phone on her shoulder as she walked into her kitchen and started the coffee maker. "He broke things off with her. He said that there's basically no chance that they're getting back together because she doesn't trust him and doesn't like his best friend."

"Is that you?"

"I guess, but I had no idea I was his best friend!"

"Wow. Why didn't you tell me this last night?"

Lois spoke as she pulled a cup out of the cupboard and waited for the coffee maker. "I didn't think that this was the kind of news you distract a bride with at her wedding reception. It's not like the news couldn't wait until we talked today."

"No, but this is huge in terms of you, which is why it's as big as it is for me. Does this change anything for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to stay in Metropolis now that Clark's available?"

"God noཀ" Lois stopped for a second and looked back into the living room, making sure that Clark was still sleeping. When she saw he was she continued in a quieter voice. "If anything, Chlo, this just means I need to go more. As much as I think things with Clark would be great, I don't want to be the rebound girl that helps him move on from a decade with Lana. No, I'm still going to London."

"I'm going to assume that since he and Lana broke up last night, he stayed with you."

"You assume correctly," Lois said as she poured herself some coffee. Pulling another cup out she poured some for Clark and grabbed both cups, placing one on the coffee table as she walked by it and then headed into her bedroom. Taking a quick sip, she sat down on the edge of her bed.

"He'd just broken up with his long time girlfriend and needed a friend. Plus, he says I'm his best friend. I had to offer."

"I know. I'd have done the same thing for the man I love."

"_That's_ helpful."

"I try. So, what are your plans for today?"

"I told Clark that I would do one last article with him today. It's an interview with some scientist at STAR Labs who think that he's found a way to time travel."

"Oooh, a mad scientist story. _Always_ fun."

Lois grinned and sipped her coffee. "I guess we'll see. It's probably just some guy that's hoping for fifteen minutes of fame. But that's enough about what's going on in my life. How was your wedding night? To clarify, I ask that with the hope that you'll share very few specifics."

"It was good. Very good. Didn't sleep much."

"Ah, minimal sleep. I need to find somebody that ensures I get minimal sleep, and not for the reasons usually associated with guys that I date, like jackassery."

"Agreed. Ok, I'm going to go do a last bit of packing before we head to the airport in a couple hours. Call my cell when you get into London, all right?"

"I will, Chlo. Enjoy your honeymoon."

"I will. Good luck in London, cuz, not that you need it. You'll be the best wherever you go."

Hanging up the phone, Lois tossed it onto the bed and took a sip of coffee before standing up and heading back out into the living room. She was surprised to see Clark sitting up and drinking coffee. She smiled and sat down next to him on the couch, taking another sip before she looked over. "Bet you wish I had your couch."

"That would have been nice, yeah. Here's a question for you: what are you doing with your apartment after you move to London."

"I'm subletting it, actually. Already have somebody lined up to move in day after tomorrow."

"That's too bad," he said, slouching back. "I knew it was a longshot, but I was hoping it wasn't taken so I could live here. I suddenly find myself lacking in living space, having given the apartment to Lana. Guess that's what I get for being nice, even when I'm breaking up with a girl."

"Sorry, Smallville, but I've had things lined up for a while."

"I figured as much. Looks like I'm going to be in a hotel until I can find an apartment." Shrugging he smiled at her. "Oh well. At least I won't have to make my own breakfast."

Lois couldn't help but smile back. "That is always a positive."

"But, for today, I think I should make something. I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything, Smallville."

"Yeah, well, pretend I do and you get a homemade breakfast out of it, assuming you have the ingredients for such things."

"I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"All right then. Let's get cooking."

Lois raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you really just say that?"

He nodded and stood up, offering her a hand to help her up. "I really did."

The cab pulled up to the curb and Lois waited for her partner as he paid the cab driver. They made their way up the walkway, heading into the STAR Labs building. As she walked through the hallway, the sound of her steps against the floor echoing off the walls, she could barely hear Clark's steps as he followed her to the elevator. Running a hand through her hair as she walked into the elevator, Lois turned as the doors closed and watched as floors flew by until they got where they were going.

Walking out, she quickly found the lab that they were looking for and knocked on the door a couple times before walking in. "Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Miss Laneཀ Mr. Kentཀ" A man walked into her line of sight from her left, grinning wildly as he offered a hand out to shake hands with her and Clark. "I'm so glad that I was able to convince your editor to send you down here. This is... well, I made it workཀ They said it couldn't be done because of the energy requirements, but I did it."

Lois nodded, smiling and trying to be friendly despite the fact that she thought the guy looked like he could very well turn out to turn out to be eccentric. "Well that's why we're here, Dr. Jayne. How about we get this demonstration going? I'm eager to see if our strange world has gotten even stranger."

The man nodded, motioning for them to follow as he walked back into the lab, making his way around piles of stuff that lay strewn about. Lois couldn't imagine what some of the stuff might have been, had it ever been anything.

Dr. Jayne stopped suddenly, grabbing something off the table and looking at it a moment before tossing it back and continuing on. When they finally got to the back of the lab, the doctor pointed at two large metal pillars, grinning wildly once more. "Here it is."

Pulling her recorder out of her bag, Lois hit the record button before speaking. "Dr. Jayne, how exactly does your time machine work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?"

Never having had much interest in sciences of that nature, Lois shook her head, but apparently Clark knew something. "The basic principle of wormholes is that they take two points and create the shortest distance, a straight line, between them. The name literally comes from the example of a worm boring through an apple to get from one side to the other instead of going around the outside."

"Correctཀ Rudimentary, yes, but as you said that is the basic principle of it. Taking years of data and research, I studied them until I went cross-eyed. From that, though, I figured out how exactly to create one without draining the world of its power reserves."

"And how exactly can you do that?" Lois asked.

"Dark energy."

Lois frowned, having heard the term before but not being entirely familiar with it. Once again, Clark picked up the slack. "Dark energy? You actually figured out a way to harness it?"  
Turning back to Clark, Lois raised an incredulous eyebrow. "How do you know all this stuff?"

He shrugged and smiled at her. "When I was a kid I enjoyed learning about space, the stars and the universe. Knowledge like that tends to seem like something one will never need, but I guess I caught a break this time."

Turning back to Dr. Jayne, Lois smiled. "Sorry about that. Please, continue."

"It's quite all right. I was as shocked as you are, Mr. Kent, when it worked. I'd hoped, but never expected. Needless to say that this has the potential to solve all energy problems in the world, though I'm not entirely certain how safe harnessing it is yet. No ill effects on me, though, so it appears to be good."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lois said, moving a little closer to the scientist. "What is dark energy?"

"Dark energy, Miss Lane, in basic terms is what causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. We didn't even know it existed twenty years ago. If the whole world used it for power, nobody on Earth would be without electricity and it wouldn't even qualify as the proverbial drop in the bucket."

"Could you develop a way for that to be done?"

The man worked his jaw for a moment before shrugging. "It's possible. The way I've done it here isn't feasible for mass use, but if I brought in some of my colleagues I'm sure it could be done."

"Wow, good day for science," Lois muttered. The science guy at the Planet was definitely going to enjoy hearing about that finding. "All right, Dr. Jayne, why don't you fire this sucker up so we can see some time travel."

"Yes, good idea. Best to get to the nitty gritty."

Watching as Lois rested her head in a hand, Clark stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked closer to her, giving her a soft nudge with his hip. "Still feeling the after effects of Chloe's reception?"

"Oh yeah. I didn't drink enough to feel bad, but I didn't sleep enough to feel good. I'm kind of running on reporter auto-pilot at the moment. It doesn't help that we've been sitting here for an hour, waiting for the mad scientist to get his machine working."

"Yeah, this seems to be one of our more downtime oriented interviews, doesn't it?" On her nod, Clark didn't really have anything more to say about that, so he found something else to talk about. "How much are you looking forward to living in London?"

"You're working off the assumption that I'm looking forward to moving thousands of miles from all my family and friends."

Clark folded his arms, frowning. "You have to at least be looking forward to showing the eastern hemisphere that you're the best reporter in the world, right?"

"You would think so, but I'd prefer to do that from here in Metropolis. This is my home, Smallville. I've never had any want to leave Metropolis, but here I am, doing it anyway because I'm so screwed up that I need to get away."

"You'll be back though, right? This isn't like the last day I'll ever see you, right?"

Lois looked away from him. "I don't know, Clark."

Dr. Jayne walked over to them, smiling. "It should be firing up any minute now. What year would you like it set to?"

Lois spoke before he could. "How about 1984?"

"Why 1984?" Clark asked.

"Why not? It could be a test run to make sure the thing works. If it does, we could go to a more important date, like the day I was born or something."

"Oh, it works, Miss Lane," Dr. Jayne interjected. "I've already been back to 1982."

Clark glanced over at the pillars, noticing a glow was beginning to emit from them when he heard Lois speak. "You went back already? Why to 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I'm a bit partial to it."The glow around the pillars increasing with each second, Clark watched it a second before turning back to Dr. Jayne. He was about to say something but Lois beat him to the punch. She'd always seemed to have a knack for that.

"Stupid question time: I'm sure you've worked this out, but how is one supposed to come back to the present without your big honking metal pillars here between which to create a wormhole?"

"Ah, yes." Pulling a backpack out, he handed it to her. It was hefty, but not overly so. "What I'm powering up now is the big, impressive version. What's in that backpack is the same thing, but streamlined so that one can carry it along for the trip. Otherwise it would be a one way trip, and that would kind of defeat the purpose of time travel."

Suddenly there was a loud crack and the room lit up brightly. Shielding his eyes with a hand, Clark saw Lois pull her sunglasses out and slip them on. Looking back at where the light show was coming from, he saw that there was a large, swirling vortex between the pillars now. Shrugging, he looked back at Dr. Jayne. He didn't know what to say, but his partner did. "You say you've done this, and it's safe?"

"I've been to 1982 three times and have yet to notice any ill effects."

"Good enough for me." Turning back to him, she hefted the backpack onto her shoulder and grinned. "You ready to do this?"

"Lois, this may not be the best idea. This is me breaking out my cautious card."

"We'll be fine, Clark. It's our last story together; let's make it one we never forgetཀ"

Getting a running start, Lois launched herself into the light. Clark sighed, shaking his head. "I'm going to miss her spirit the most," he mumbled to himself before jumping into the vortex.

Hitting the ground again, Clark stopped himself after a couple steps and found Lois in front of him, pulling off her sunglasses and stuffing them into a pocket. "Seems it may have actually worked."

"We'll see, Smallville. Come on."

Making their way through the building, they went outside and stared at the city. Lois spoke first. "Well, going on looks alone it appears we're in the past."

"True. We need to find something with a date on it, though, to be sure."

Making their way down the street, they both kept an eye out for things that could have dates on them. Not too far way they found a newspaper dispenser, and after digging out a quarter from her pocket Lois popped it into the machine and pulled out a paper, letting the little door slam shut as she checked the date. Grinning, she looked at him.

"I can't believe we're in the pastཀ Wait until Chloe hears about thisཀ Jesus, wait until Perry reads our articleཀ He's not going to let me go to London, in all likelihood."

"Wouldn't hear me arguing with him on that decision, Lois."

"Me either, but if I'm ever going to be happy it has to be done."

"Are you sure about that? Why can't you work things out in Metropolis?"

She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face before answering. "Because there's a guy that I'm in love with, that I'm obsessed with in a non-crazy way that I have to get separation from or else I'll never be able to move on." She looked up at him, her eyes full of sadness. "I have to go. If I don't get a fresh start now, my life will be on hold until I die, and I can't live that way. It's been on hold for nearly two and a half years now."

It was him. She had to leave because of him. "Lois..."

"No, Clark. My life is driving me crazy. I'm killing myself slowly through one very long, very stupid decision to wait for y... to wait. I have to stop. It's now or never, and I choose now, no matter how much the timing has become ironic. What I want is finally free, but I can't wait anymore."

Clark held her gaze for a moment before looking away. "I understand." Suddenly they were interrupted by the sound of screeching tires, and Clark looked past Lois, spotting an out of control vehicle swerving all over the street and now headed straight for a lamp post. Not having much choice in respect to hiding his powers, Clark super sped over to the car and after slowing it down stopped it by picking up the back end. When the wheels stopped spinning, Clark set the back end down again and walked over to the drivers door.

Pulling open the door, he pulled out the young guy behind the wheel. Dark hair, dark eyes, ridiculous clothes, though that might be because they were in the past. The telltale part of every thing was the fact that he was immediately bombarded by the stench of alcohol. "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Riley Pottsཀ Dude, how'd you do that?"

"That's a VERY good questionཀ"

Clark winced as Lois jogged over. Putting Riley down on his feet, the man immediately collapsed into a heap next to his car. Shaking his head, he turned to Lois. "Look, I can explain-"

Late Summer 2003

"Why are we going to see this guy, Chloe?" Lois looked over at her cousin, frowning. "So he ran away from the small town to live in the big city? Had I lived someplace called Smallville my whole life I would have run away, too. From the looks of things," Lois said as she glanced at the buildings surrounding them, "it doesn't appear that he's doing too poorly for himself. Quite the opposite, really."

"I know, Lois, but I have to at least try to convince him to go home. His parents are worried sick about him."

"Then tell them he's hereཀ Who cares if you promised him you wouldn't. In the end, he'll thank you for it, even if he isn't too fond of you in the short term."

"I have to keep my word, Lois. It took me a while to find him, and he threatened to disappear again if I told anybody where he is. You don't know him like I do; if he sets his mind to something he's going to find a way to do it." Chloe stopped, and Lois followed suit. "Look, the elevator's right over there across the street. I'm going to go up and talk to him. You should stay here."

"Fine by me. Of course," Lois said, pointing with her chin at a man that had just emerged, "if that's him you're going to have to hustle."

"Damn it," her cousin muttered. "Look, I gotta run over there. I'll be back in a few minutesཀ"

Chloe started running across the street, obviously not looking where she was going. Suddenly there were screeching tires and Lois blinked. Before she knew it, Chloe was flying through the air and landing with a sickening thud in the middle of the road as a car stopped a few feet away.

Lois stood motionless for a second her eyes stuck as wide as they went in shock. She sucked in a breath as she willed her feet to move, breaking into a run towards her cousin. "CHLOEཀ"  
Coming to a stop next to where Chloe lay, she saw the blank stare her cousin's eyes wore, a bloody look of surprise on the rest of her face. Lois had seen that blank stare before.

Falling to her knees, she just stared at the little blonde body that seconds ago had been so alive.

"I-Is she dead?"

Looking over, Lois saw a dark haired, middle aged guy standing there. He wore a mechanic's shirt with some name that started with an R patched on it. She looked back at her lifeless cousin, numb.

"Yes."


	15. Chapter 15

-- Chapter 15

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so, but I'm not quite sure how we got to this point."

Running a hand back through her hair, Lois shoved her hands under her thighs and rolled her neck, stretching out some tense muscles. "We are at this point because every single time I come here I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over again. It's been years since we started our sessions and I don't feel like I've made any progress. I don't like not making progress, and once again I feel like I've been saying that over and over again."

"Progress is slow," the therapist said. She crossed her legs and let her hands rest in her lap. "But I can definitively say that you've made progress. After coping with your cousin's death on your own for the better part of a decade, letting yourself wallow in the misplaced guilt of not being able to protect her from a reckless action, you were, to be frank, a mess. Your career was exploding in popularity because you wrote the articles others wouldn't dare to write. You got those articles by taking unnecessary risks, putting yourself in life threatening danger. How you escaped so many times, God only knows, but you weren't satisfied with surviving. You were hell-bent on getting yourself killed.

"Your referral to me from Perry White is why you're still alive. I don't say that because I want to toot my own horn, so to speak; I say that because you were deliberately following leads that were going to get you killed. It was going to be suicide by proxy. The headlines would have said that a popular, hard-hitting journalist had been killed while researching a dangerous article. The truth would have been that you'd finally achieved your goal of getting yourself killed, violently, just like your cousin was while she chased after the runaway boy.

"Look at yourself now, though. You're a renowned journalist, still publishing the articles that made you so famous, but doing so in a manner that doesn't put you in half as much danger. It's still far more danger than you should put yourself in, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never be able to change that about you."

"Damn right, you won't," Lois grumbled.

"Be that as it may, you are a very healthy, well adjusted person that no longer attempts to end her life in a misguided tribute to her fallen cousin. There's never been a question that your devotion to her memory is admirable, but I'm glad that through these sessions you've been able to find some peace with the fact that she's gone."

"Peace? I wouldn't say that. Solace, maybe. I do what I do because journalism was her passion. I'd never even thought about writing anything as a hobby, let alone writing articles as a career until she died, and I'm as good at it as I am because of her memory. Chloe's memory drives me to be the best so that the articles that she'd have written still happen. People deserve to know the truth about the world around them; I'm simply filling the void that shouldn't have happened."

The therapist moved around in her chair for a moment before saying anything. "You've moved beyond the reason of just doing it for Chloe now, Lois."

"It's the only one I think about."

"You've admitted to me that you were somewhat adrift in your own life when it came to what you wanted to do before losing your cousin. You were headed towards high school graduation without any idea of a career. While you got into the field for reasons different than most, you found something that you're very good at and no longer do it just for Chloe: you do it because you love what you do."

Dr. Washburn certainly had her there. She did love what she did, more than just about anything in the world. The love of journalism had been something of a by-product of her laser-like focus on becoming as good a journalist as she knew Chloe would have grown to be. She doubted she'd ever have all the technical skills a writer should though; why did she need to spell check her articles if the things were going through an editor anyway?

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Lois shrugged her shoulders at the doctor. "It was never meant to be a great love of mine, despite how it's turned out. It was just something that I felt needed to be done. I figured I'd be one of those many people that didn't have the luxury of loving her career. Just got lucky, I guess."

"So you've told me." Dr. Washburn glanced down at her watch, then looked back up. "We still have a little while left in our session. Why don't you tell me how your personal life is going? _Is_ it going? I know you rarely have anything to discuss in this arena, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask."

"Actually," Lois said as she cracked her knuckles one at a time. "I have a bit of news."

"What news would that be?"

"I, uh, kinda hooked up with somebody a couple nights ago and I think it could actually turn into something more." Lois smiled as she thought back to the night in question, and didn't miss the surprised look on her doctor's face. "There's no need for the shocked look, doc."

"Lois, we've been doing these sessions for just over four years now, and this is the first time you've said anything about having sex where it could turn into something more. You've been a love 'em and leave 'em woman, too engrossed in other things to think of having a relationship. The fact that you think this could turn into something more IS a shock, to say the least. Were it not for other issues in life, I would have long ago addressed the lack of intimacy in your life."

Lois frowned. "Well when you put it that way, yeah, I guess shocked is a natural reaction."

"Shock aside, I think it's wonderful that you seem to have found somebody you think you may have a future with. Would you like to describe him for me?"

"Well, ah, yeah. He's tall; three or four inches over six feet, probably. Very smart, with a deceptively quick wit. I say deceptively because in the short time I know him, he rarely let's anything out past his shy and clumsy exterior. Once you get past all that, though, and really get to know him... well, he's somebody that could be in my life for a long time. There is one caveat to that statement, though."

"What would that caveat be?"

Lois grimaced and sighed. "He's dipping his company pen into my company inkwell, so to speak."

Doctor Washburn looked confused, then suddenly understanding washed over her face, which was then followed by a quirked eyebrow. "You're having sex with a coworker, Lois?"

"Guilty as charged. My partner, to be specific."

"I can't say I'm thrilled about that aspect, but thinking about it, it really isn't all that surprising. You don't really have anywhere else that you would meet an eligible bachelor. Have I mentioned that I still would like for you to actually go out and interact with people you aren't working with, getting information from or interviewing?"

"It may have come up once or twice."

"A positive step is a positive step, though. As the saying goes, don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Does that also apply to gift donkeys?" Off her therapists look, Lois simply smiled. "Sorry, figured it was time for a bad joke. Speaking of time, I think the hour's up. You probably have somebody outside waiting, eager to get in and pour out his or her inner crazy."

"Most of my patients have more patience than you do, Lois, but you are correct that our time is up. We had a good session today. For my notes, do you mind if I ask about the man you think you may have a future with?"

Lois pulled her bag up onto her shoulder and smoothed the wrinkled fabric over her butt. "You could always check the byline, doc. I know you're not a fan of newspapers, which you think are a dying breed, but it wouldn't kill you to look once in a while."

"This is quicker, and like you said, there's probably somebody outside that doesn't want to wait for me to go get a paper."

"Fine, fine. His name is Clark Kent."

"I can't believe how stupid I've beenཀ We've been partners less than a week and I've had sex with herཀ"

"I've been listening to you converse on that very subject for the past two days, dear."

Clark smiled sheepishly at his mom, scratching needlessly at the back of his neck so his hand had something to do. "I just... I don't..." Pausing, Clark shook his head and attempted to speak once more. "I'm not even sure how it happened. One minute we're talking, the next minute we're... you know. It's like I had no control over myself."

"You knew exactly what you were doing, Clark. Don't try to pawn this off on losing control of yourself."

"I know, mom, but she just makes me feel so free."

"What kind of free are we talking about?" She walked over close to him, looking concerned. "If it's red kryptonite, then you may very well have been out of control until you were away from her."

Clark waved his hands at his mom, shaking his head at the same time. Apparently feeling out of control and feeling free were different in her book. "No, nothing like that. She... I guess she makes me feel free to be myself. To be me, mom, not the shy, clumsy goofball that I am when I'm at work. It's disarming, being around her. After a couple hours, when she got over the fact that she had a partner, we just, I don't know, connected. After that, things were very much a whirlwind."

"Resulting in you two being intimate."

Sighing, Clark shifted from one foot to the other. The uncomfortable factor of talking to his mom about what had happened with Lois was ridiculously high. He didn't have anybody else to talk to, though. Pete was overseas on business with Lana, so he didn't want to interrupt them. Every time he tried talking to Lois they ended up doing things with their mouths that didn't involve talking. They hadn't had sex again, but it certainly wasn't because there was a lack of want. More like lots of bad timing.

"There's just something about her, mom. I don't understand it. She's actually fairly opposite from the type of woman I'm usually attracted to: brash, loud, bossy... I don't even think she believes that the word compromise exists. But when I'm around her, I just keep wanting to be around herཀ When we go our separate way at night, it feels like I'm missing a part of me. It's ridiculous but true."

"I felt like that with your father when we first met, Clark. I'd never gone out with anybody like him before we'd met, and after our first date I didn't ever want to go out with anybody else. I knew that he was a part of my future. What you're saying isn't totally dissimilar."

"Well that's a couple of daunting statements."

"I know, honey, but it's true. It doesn't mean you've found your soul mate, true one or whatever it is that the Kawache legend calls her, but I know you've never felt like this before."

Clark frowned at her. "The Kawache legend? What prompted you to bring that up?"

"I have a son that's had a fear of being alone his whole life since he realized what being different from everybody else meant. When there's a legend that says a man strongly resembling that son is going to find a soul mate, then I have to grab onto that and use it. I don't know if Lois Lane is your soul mate, but I know that if she didn't have a profound effect on you that you wouldn't have allowed things to go as far as they did two nights ago."

Clark couldn't argue that point. From the moment he'd met Lois he'd been enamored, and had no idea as to why. Her first words to him had been 'I don't know who you are, but if you keep standing between me and Perry's office I'm going to have to climb over you.' After that, she'd nearly thrown a tantrum when they'd been partnered, she'd gotten over it, and the rest was recent, extremely confusing history.

Rubbing at his forehead, Clark sighed. "Do you think I should try giving her the bracelet? I mean, this could all just be in my head because it's been a while since I've been this close to any woman." Oh good, the uncomfortable sharing part of the conversation was back.

"It couldn't hurt. If she is your true one, the I assume something will happen. If she isn't and nothing happens, well, then you'll just have to let things take their course."

"I can just imagine what I'm going to say if something does happen. 'Why were lights coming out of the bracelet I just gave you and why can't you take it off anymore? Funny story...' insert not funny life story of Clark Kent here."

His mom smiled at him. "You had a few funny things happen in your life, dear."

"Not enough to make my life a comedy, mom."

"Don't think about what you can't change, Clark. You may very well have something special starting, so focus on that. Hold it tightly and don't let go."

After a few minutes of silent consideration, Clark straightened himself out. "All right. I have to go for it. Given everything in my life that I've done and that I'm going to start doing with that ridiculous costume you made for me, I can't be afraid of going for something that could make me happy. Goodness knows I've had enough sadness in my life; it's time I start going for things that can make me happy instead of hoping they'll just happen on their own."

"Hey," Lois said. She smiled as Clark walked up to her desk and leaned down, kissing her. It was a pleasant surprise; they hadn't done anything of the sort in public, mostly as his insistence. He'd been worried about what people would think. She really couldn't care less what people thought.

He pulled away after a second. "May as well go for it, right?"

"Finally he gets it. Where'd you go for lunch?"

"Just went home and made something. You?"

She hadn't told him about her therapy yet. They'd been partners less than a week; what was she supposed to do, say 'Hi, I'm Lois and I'm in therapyཀ'? She was open about it, but not THAT open. Hell, may as well just get it out in the open. She really needed to stop thinking the word open so much. "I was in my weekly therapy session, actually."

To his credit, if Clark was surprised she couldn't tell. "Yeah? How'd it go?"

"Uh, it went well, actually. Did some good talking with the doc. Got a few things out in the open."

"I take it you told your doctor about us?"

"I did."

Clark nodded. "All right. I'm glad that you have somebody to talk to if you need it." He paused a second, then smiled at her. "I hope that you'll see me as somebody you can talk to, with time. Speaking of talking, will you join me in the conference room for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." Getting up, Lois followed him to the empty room, hearing the door close after she walked in and as she took a seat. "What's up?"

"When I'm with you, I don't want to be anywhere else. Now, this may sound a strange statement to you, but let me explain. In my last serious relationship, there was a whole lot of buildup followed by a whole lot of fizzle. I had to force myself to spend time with Lana. It wasn't even like I had anywhere else to be or my mind on other things. I just didn't care to be with her. When we were together, we never laughed. She took everything very seriously, to the point where if I made a joke she thought I was being serious and took it as an insult.

"This whole free flowing conversation that you and I get into? It is completely foreign to me. I've never experienced anything like it in my life. When I'm with you, I don't want to be anywhere else. I just want to be with you, and I think you feel the same. We've known each other, what, six days? These aren't the feelings of people that have known each other less than a week. I don't know about you, but it scares me. A lot. More, though, it makes me think that this is something that we should put serious effort into. If you want to."

"Well," Lois said as she exhaled loudly, "you certainly laid all your cards on the table, didn't you?"

"So to speak. We've been... well, more to the point I've been a bit confused about everything. You seemed well aware of everything that was going on and also seemed like you had no trouble coming to terms with it."

"Are you kidding me, Clark? I can't remember the last long term relationship I had, but I can't help to think that what we have could go the distanceཀ Do you know how hard it is to try and sort that out in my mind? I might be finding something that I never thought I would look for. Ever. I didn't think I needed a social life. Hell, my therapist described me as a 'love 'em and leave 'em woman' todayཀ Honestly, if I've gone out with a guy in the past few years, it's because I was horny and wanted sex. I'd go out, get laid and be good to go for a while. Kinda like a camel and water, as unflattering a comparison as that is.

"The point of my nonsensical speak is that I don't want to be anywhere else either. I want to be with you. I feel kind of... empty, I guess, for a little while after we go home for the day. I look forward to coming into work for _completely_ different reasons than I did a week ago. I mean, it's insane to feel this way this soon. We're both three fries short of a happy meal, right?"

Clark smiled at her as he sat down in the chair to her right. "If we are, then it's good we found each other. Birds of a feather and that kind of thing, right?"

She smiled back at him. "Sounds about right. So we're really doing this?"

"We are, but I guess we should make it official: you my girlfriend?"

"Yep. You my boyfriend?"

"Yep."

"Good," Clark said around a widening smile. Lois leaned over and kissed him, to which he responded, "Really good."

"I need to tell you something."

Pulling his arm a little tighter around her body, Lois sighed contentedly. He certainly could have picked a better time to want to tell her whatever it was he had to tell. "What's up, Clark?"

"As much as it pains me, you may want to be in a non-snuggling position to hear this."

Despite the fact that her eyes were closed, Lois rolled them. It was a much more effective tool of being exasperated when the one causing the exasperation could see it, but this was more for her own benefit. Strange as it was, rolling her eyes seemed to make her feel better about what life would throw at her. An odd coping mechanism, but one nonetheless. Sitting up after Clark had removed his arm from her, Lois didn't bother covering up her naked torso as she raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you need to get off your chest?

His eyes drifted down a moment, staring at her breasts. Grinning to herself, she figured she might have to do the bared breasts routine whenever he wanted to talk about something in bed. Maybe she'd distract him enough sometimes to just skip it. When his eyes finally met hers, he was frowning.

"Do you think you could maybe cover up?"

"Nope. If this is so important that you have to interrupt me falling asleep in a blissful, post orgasmic haze, then I'm going to have to sit here with the ladies hanging out. Just going to have to live with the consequences of your actions, Clarkie."

"Clarkie?"

"It was a nickname moment, and I didn't have a good one at hand."

"Ok then. Well, uh, this is probably something I should have told you before we got intimate, but it's not exactly something you lead with when introducing yourself to somebody." She noticed him glance down at her breasts again before continuing. Good thing it wasn't cold or she'd be frozen and pointing at him. "My past is a lot more colorful than I've let on."

"How so?"

"Well, you know how I told you I come from Smallville?" She nodded. "That's only partially true. I was raised in Smallville after my parents adopted me. I was born somewhere a long way from Smallville."

"How long is a long way?"

His mouth kinda opened and closed for a minute before he said anything. "Lois, I'm from a different planet and have powers that no human can possess."

Oh God, she was sleeping with a crazy personཀ It was only supposed to have been a metaphorical crazy when they were in the conference room a couple days agoཀ "_Ok_..."

"I can prove it."

"_Really_? Well, please, do some proving."

"See that candle over there?" Lois followed where Clark was pointing and nodded. "Watch."

Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, which probably made her some kind of saint in this situation, Lois trained her eyes on the candle. "All right. I'm watching." A second later, the candle lit itself. As far as she knew, candles didn't do that. "What the hell was that?"

"I can shoot super heated beams out of my eyes."

Looking back at him, Lois stared for a second. "_What_?"

Without an answer to her incredulous word, Clark got out of bed and position himself at the end. Without any warning he bent down and she suddenly found herself being lifted up into the air. He held the bed just under eye level, so she could still see him. "I'm also really, REALLY strong." He put the bed down, and in the blink of an eye was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, his glasses perched on his nose. "Very fast, too."

An hour later Lois still sat in bed, eyes wide as she tried to come to terms with everything that Clark had told her. Her boyfriend was from another planet and had super powers, which he was planning on using to help defend the people of Metropolis.

"You're a walking comic book characterཀ Little boys and girls dream of having just one of the powers you haveཀ"

"I know. I dreamed about having powers before actually realizing I did have powers. Some of them, anyway."

"And you've really never willingly told anybody else about them before?"

"No."

"Wow. Guess you really do think I'm special."

"I really do."

Lois exhaled loudly, running a hand back through her hair. "Well, I'm glad you told me. Now, how about you come back to bed? I think this is one of the things in life that a person should sleep on. I mean, not that there's a decision or anything; I still want to be with you, but my brain could use the time to come to grasp things better."

"Actually, there's one more thing, if you don't mind. I'd like to get everything out of the way tonight, so that we can live our lives without me having to fill in too many details again."

"All right, let's have it."

Walking over to the corner, Clark grabbed the bag that he'd brought with him and dropped it on the bed, digging through it for a second before pulling something out. A bracelet, of all things. He walked over never to her and held it out so she could see it. "I got this bracelet from one of the Kawache people. There's a cave in Smallville, foretelling one that would come from the stars and have powers beyond that of normal man. Part of that legend is that he would find his true one, his soul mate, and give her this bracelet. I think... no, I know: this belongs to you."

Lois looked up at him. "You think I'm your soul mate?"

"I can't think of another explanation of why we're so perfect together. Everything clicks. I wouldn't give this to you if I had doubts."

Never having been one to believe in something like soul mates, Lois put her doubts aside and took the bracelet from him. Slipping it on her left wrist, she slid it up until it rested snugly on her forearm. It looked kind of ridiculous to have it on at the moment, what with her being topless, but it was a nice piece of jewelry. Suddenly it began glowing, and with a flash was gone. Staring at what was probably only the third strangest thing she'd seen that night, Lois found that where the bracelet had been there was now a tattoo of an odd symbol. She looked up at Clark. "Uh, explanation?"

"It's, uh, the Kryptonian symbol for soul mate. Guess I was right."

Looking at her arm again, Lois just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Guess you were. So we're together days, find out we're soul mates and now I have a tattoo proclaiming as such. Kryptonians don't do anything half-assed, do they?"

"No, apparently not. Also, I'm going to have to ask the fortress what the deal is with Kryptonian symbols being tattooed on people."

"Something like this has happened before?"

"Yeah, but I think that's a story for another night." In the blink of an eye Clark was undressed again and crawling into bed with her. Turning on her side, Lois felt herself get enveloped by his arms again and sighed as some of the contentedness from earlier returned. "See you in the morning, Lois."

"Night, Clark. Thank you for telling me."

"Never been one for lying."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

Yawning, Lois rubbed a hand over her face before going back to staring at her computer screen. No matter what she did, adding up all the facts kept feeling like adding two to two and getting five. Something wasn't making sense, and she really couldn't figure out what. It was annoying. Needing to give her brain a break, she turned off her monitor and leaned back in her chair, smiling as Clark walked back from the break room and handed her a cup of coffee.  
"How is it you can drink coffee at 10:30pm and still fall asleep an hour later?"

"Talent, Clark," Lois said as she sipped. "It's just pure talent."

"I think that answer is pure something else. With as much coffee as you drink, you've probably just built up some tolerance and the caffeine wears off more quickly."

Lois rolled her eyes and put her coffee down on her desk. "See, if you have some ridiculous, logical answer already at hand, why ask me?"

"I guess I just like hearing you talk." He leaned over and kissed her one the forehead before retreating to his own desk and sitting down. "Why is your monitor turned off?"

"Because my brain couldn't make sense of what it was seeing and so by turning the monitor off, my brain doesn't have to hurt for a couple minutes. I don't like it when my brain hurts. Hopefully this black nectar you've brought me will help me to make sense of what I'm seeing."

Half an hour later it had and Lois was admiring the printout of the article they'd whipped up once the facts had made sense to her. Walking into Perry's office, she laid the finish product on his desk, having already emailed it to him but always liking to hand in a hard copy as well. Stretching as she walked back out to her desk, she grinned at Clark. "It's articles like this that really make me glad I became a journalist."

"Helping people does seem to make the long hours and middling pay worth it, doesn't it?" Clark held her purse out for her and she took it as they started towards the elevator. "It's really a big part of the reason I got into journalism."

"I wish I could say the same," Lois said as she pushed the down button and turned to face him as they waited. "But my reason for getting into journalism was much less altruistic."

"Care to elaborate?"

Lois thought for a second, but after remembering that they'd found out they were soul mates six days into knowing each other, she figured her little story of guilt probably wouldn't hurt anything. "I got into journalism because my cousin was killed." Stepping into the elevator, Lois didn't look at him as she spoke. "Her dream in life was to be the best journalist the world had ever seen, helping people and making sure that wrongs were made right. I was with her when she was killed crossing a street, and I've always felt guilty that I couldn't protect her.

"She was my little cousin, ya know? She started crossing the street hastily, without looking out for cars, because I pointed out something to her. I can't get the thought out of my head that maybe if I don't, she doesn't die and is here right now instead of me. The reason I'm so driven to do what I do is because I'm trying to be the journalist I know she would have been, trying to tell the stories that she didn't get to tell."

Lois felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and was gently pulled into him. Sighing, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "My feelings about that incident are the reason I go to therapy, actually. I tried to deal with my grief and my guilt on my own, but it didn't work. It just ended up putting me into situations that nearly got me killed. Unlike those situations I'm in today, those were risks I didn't need to take. It would have been a pointless, violent death, just like my cousin's."

Walking out of the elevator, Lois continued to lean on Clark as they made their way outside. "I actually have a similar story, Lo. A similar influence."

"What happened?"

"I had a friend when I was younger that was a lot like your cousin. She dreamed of working at the Daily Planet and making a difference in the world. I did something stupid as a kid and took off, living in Metropolis for a few months. Chloe came after me and was killed near my apartment. So I... what's wrong?"

Lois had stopped walking and pulled away from Clark, staring at him. It couldn't be him. Chloe hadn't mentioned who she'd been chasing; just that he was a friend. "You said Chloe."

"Yeah, that was the name of my friend. Chloe Sullivan. Blonde, about 5'4ཁ or 5'5ཁ.

"That's... she was my cousin."

"_What_? She'd mentioned her cousin Lois once or twice, but I'd never thought... you're Chloe's cousin Lois?"

"Yesཀ I was with her when she died, trying to talk some sense into youཀ"

"I didn't... I had no idea that the two of you could be related. There's really not much family resemblance. Wow, that's just... I mean, what are the odds that Chloe's cousin and one of her best friends end up as partners because of that tragedy?"

"Y-You're the reason she... I've been working with you and you're the reason..."

Clark looked at her, confusion written all over his face. "I'm the reason what?"

"You're the reason she diedཀ" Lois yelled. "You're the mother f-cker that got my cousin killed by running away from homeཀ If you hadn't done that she'd probably be here right now and I wouldn't have spent the last twelve or thirteen years of my life feeling guilty about her deathཀ"

"Lois, I..."

"Noཀ" she yelled, pointing at him. "I... we're done." Turning, she walked away. She'd only made it a few steps before Clark jogged in front of her and blocked her way.

"Lois, please. Let's talk about this."

"What part of we're done don't you get? You're the reason I've lived my life riddled with guiltཀ Like I said ,we're done. We're no longer partners, and we're no longer lovers. If we pass each other at work, you don't even get a hello. We're. Done."

"But... we're soul mates, Lois."

Getting up one her tiptoes, she put her face up into his, speaking very quietly. "I will happily live my life with somebody I have half the connection with, hell I'll happily live my life alone instead of spending it with you. Just because being alone your whole life is your biggest fear doesn't mean it's mine. Go to hell, Clark."

Lois turned and walked away again. This time, Clark didn't get in her way.


	16. Chapter 16

-- Chapter 16

"What the hell happened between you two, Kent? One day you two are happy as can be and the next she doesn't even acknowledge your existence, refusing to work with you anymore."

Looking up from what he'd been barely reading on his computer screen, the aforementioned reporter rubbed at his chin for a moment as the events of two nights before replayed through his mind. He was surprised that Perry hadn't asked his view on things before now. "It's a long story, Perry."

"Give me a damn summary, thenཀ You're lucky you're a damn good reporter or else I'd have done what she asked and fired you."

"She actually asked you to fire me?"

"Asked? You know we're talking about Lois _Lane_, right? She came into my office first thing yesterday and _demanded_ that you be fired. I, of course, asked why, and all that got me was five minutes of her ranting that she was the best thing that ever happened to The Daily Planet. According to her, if she says somebody should be fired, then that person should obviously be fired. I'll spare you the rest of that encounter, but she wouldn't explain what had happened. As such, you're going to. I don't like, no, I hate discord in my newsroom."

Clark sat back in his chair and contemplated what he should tell Perry. Lois apparently hadn't wanted to go into detail, which was somewhat uncharacteristic of her. At least he assumed it was; they hadn't really known each other long enough for him to figure out even a tenth of her quirks. Releasing a sigh, Clark stood up. "Let's do this in your office."

Perry turned and started back towards his office, and Clark followed. Pushing his glasses up on his nose, he closed the door to the office before sitting down, letting his elbows rest on his knees. "You may have noticed that Lois and I had somewhat of an instant connection. Things between us just seemed to click. We were talking the other night, and got into what our driving factors for getting into journalism were. You know about her younger cousin, right?"

"Of course. You don't know Lois without knowing about her cousin."

"Right. Well, she was telling me about how that was her main influence. She wanted to tell the stories Chloe wouldn't get to anymore. Well, I have a similar story. I had a friend that was killed when I was younger in car versus pedestrian accident. She was chasing after me because I had run away from home."

"You seem like the last person that would have done something like that."

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind," Clark said, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "I had, uh, caused my mom to miscarry a baby she never thought she'd be able to have. Good intentions leading to the worst results. So I ran. I left Smallville and came to Metropolis. I got into some things I shouldn't have and spent a summer in something of a drugged haze. It was the only way I could avoid being physically ill from the guilt. But, a friend tracked me down."

"And this friend was Lois's cousin, wasn't it?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah. She was hit by a car crossing the street to come try to convince me to go home. Lois was with her, and you know all the stuff from her point of view. I didn't even know about it until my dad finally tracked me down about six weeks later. Wasn't much into watching, listening to or reading the news while I was on my own. When I was getting back into the swing of things in Smallville, my parents mentioned it in passing. I asked them what they were talking about, and got the story from them.

"It was... devastating. I tried to talk to her dad, Gabe, so that I could apologize, but all I got was the door slammed in my face, which I understood. My best friend, Pete, pretty much decided that I wasn't worth knowing anymore, and moved to Wichita to live with his mom. The girl I'd been in love with since I was about five tried to be my friend, but every time she looked at me I saw the blame in her eyes. She and Chloe had been close, almost sisterly at times. She moved to Paris the following spring and I haven't seen her since.

"When my dad died a couple years after my running away, indirectly because of what had happened with me, I left Smallville and traveled the world. Ten years later, here I am. I got my degree while I traveled, and remembered what I learned from Chloe to try and become half the writer she was."

Clark smiled at Perry. "I know that you didn't ask for my life story, but just for what happened between Lois and I. It kind of rounds things out, though. Basically, she blames me for Chloe's death, much like everybody else. She now knows that because of my actions, her life has been one long guilt trip, and refuses to have anything to do with me because of it. I-I have to live with that, because if I don't run away, Chloe doesn't die. Not there, anyway. She'd probably be working here at the Daily Planet if not for that, if not for me."

Silence enveloped them. Clark didn't know what Perry was going to say, and truthfully, he wasn't sure that he wouldn't eventually cave to Lois's demand that he be fired. If Lois threatened to quit, he probably wouldn't have much choice. He wouldn't blame his editor if when push came to shove, he sided with his star reporter. It would be more than understandable. Hopefully he'd at least have some warning so he could line up another job, possibly at the Metropolis Star.

"You've led quite the life, son.," Clark heard Perry say quietly.

"That's one way of putting it, yeah."

"I understand where Lane is coming from. You find out that somebody you're intimate with is indirectly responsible for a loved one's death that changed your life, and there's going to be fallout. To be honest, I'm surprised she didn't beat the hell out of you, or at least deck you a few times across the jaw."  
Clark sighed. He'd been surprised she hadn't tried that, too, when he'd thought back on things. "I think she was too angry to think straight, Perry, else she probably would have."

"Well, at least I know now why my potentially great team imploded. I appreciate your candor, Kent."

Clark laughed a mirthless laugh as he stood up. "Not a problem, Perry. I always try to be as honest as I can about these things. I've lived under a mountain of guilt for a good portion of my life now, and these things would have come out one way or another. The only thing I can hope for out of all this is that Lois finds some peace and can finally feel a little better about living her life.

Unable to keep herself from fidgeting, Lois glanced up and frowned once again when she saw that the light indicating she could go into Doctor Washburn's office still wasn't on. What the hell was taking so long? She hadn't seen the need to try and get an emergency session so she could pour her heart out over everything that had happened with Clark since her last session, but now that she was here she was antsy. She wanted to get in there and get things off her chest. Two long and annoying minutes later, the light finally popped on and Lois bounced out of her chair and into the room. With a nod to the doctor she sat down, running a hand back through her hair.

"How are you, Lois?"

"That's a loaded question, doc. This has been a long, _strange_ week." She caught herself fidgeting and limited herself to her foot bouncing so that she wouldn't annoy herself and the doctor with constant movement.

"Seems we're jumping right into things. What's happened this past week?"

"Well, uh, last time I was here, I told you about Clark. Well, he turned out to just be... well, let me put it this way: without him, we probably never would have met."

Confusion made its way across Doctor Washburn's face. "How do you mean? If you two just met, I don't see how he could have any impact on you being here."

"Clark and I got to talking the other night, and we came around to why we got into journalism. I told him about Chloe; what had happened, what came about as a result and all that. He then goes into his reasons for being an investigative reporter and he starts going on about how he had a friend that sounds very similar to my cousin. Then he talks about how she was killed _chasing him down after he ran away from home as a kid_. He's the one that Chloe was chasingཀ"

"Are you sure? That would be an unbelievable coincidence."

"Of course I'm sureཀ His friend's name was Chloe Sullivan, a smallish blonde whose dream was to be a reporter for The Daily Planet. Outside of my cousin having a secret twin sister and my life being part of an awful soap opera, it's the same person."

"Wow," doctor Washburn said.

Lois nodded. "Yeah."

"How did Clark react to learning all this?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"Why not?"

Lois couldn't help the incredulous look that overtook her. "You're kidding, right? This man is the reason my cousin was killed crossing the streetཀ A good portion of my life has been me walking with a Chloe sized amount of guilt on my back because of what happened because of himཀ Why would I bother with anything that has to do with him?"

"It may help you to talk to him, Lois."

"Haཀ Nothing he has to say is worth listening toཀ He's the reason Chloe's deadཀ"

"A week ago you were the perceived cause of your cousin's death, Lois."

"What? Well, yeah but..."

"The only thing that's changed is that you found somebody you knew existed but couldn't put a face to, Lois. Up until today's session, his existence was only a minor note in your telling of the story. From an objective point of view, though, I'd say that he may bear some indirect guilt due to the fact that she was chasing him as a result of his running away, but once again the most blame for your cousin's death falls on her."

Lois sighed. "I don't think that's true."

"I know, and I understand you not wanting to blame a loved one for her own death. The facts are these, though: your cousin was hit by a car because she was running across the street. She didn't check to see if cars were coming, as you tell it. Yes, Clark ran away from home, and yes, you pointed out that he was leaving to her, but she ran in front of a car. You could maybe blame the driver if he'd been drinking or something like that, but he wasn't. This was just action without thought that resulted in an unfortunate accident."

Lois rubbed her hands over her face, scowling. "I can't... I can't _blame Chloe_ཀ She was trying to do something to help somebodyཀ S-She way only running because Clark was going to leave and because I had pointed that fact out to her."

"She would have seen him leaving anyway, Lois. The same thing very well may have happened."  
"But it didn't happen that wayཀ"

"I know, Lois, but it's time you face the fact that this isn't your fault. You played an entirely insignificant part in your cousin's death. She didn't die because you said 'Lookཀ There he is.' As much as you've wanted to blame yourself, and as much as you now want to blame Clark, neither of you is directly to blame. It just doesn't work that way."

Lois couldn't stand what she was hearing. "B-But this was my big chanceཀ I could found an outlet for my angerཀ"

"Clark isn't a healthy outlet for your anger, Loisཀ"

"But she was chasing himཀ"

"I know," Dr. Washburn said, sounding a little exasperated, taking a drink of water before continuing. "But when it comes right down to it, you don't need an outlet for your anger, you need to let go of your anger. I've told you this a hundred times, but it would do you a world of good to forgive yourself. In lieu of that, though, I have something that I would like for you to do."

Lois didn't like the sound of this. "What would that something be?"

"Forgive Clark."

Lois stared for a moment at the doctor, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. "What... what... _what_?"

"I would like for you to try and forgive Clark."

"You just want me to let him off the hook for what he did?" Jumping up out of her seat, Lois started pacing. "You can't be seriousཀ My entire adult life has been shaped by one event that was caused by Clark Kent running away from home, and you want me to just up and forgive him? Noཀ"

"This isn't just for you, Lois. Can you imagine how Clark has felt all these years? He made a bad decision as a kid and as a result a good friend of his died. It had to have had repercussions throughout his life. Not only would it go a long way to making you feel better about everything, but forgiveness would give Clark something that he may not have gotten from anybody else. If he has, then he has, but with it being so fresh a wound once more, it can't hurt."

"You're _my_ therapistཀ Why are you so worried about him?"

"What if something were to happen to him today, Lois? How would you feel about it?"

"What?"  
Lois finally sat back down as the doctor crossed her legs. "If Clark Kent died today, how would you feel about it? Would you be sad? Indifferent? What?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Would you be happy?"

"Of course notཀ" Lois exclaimed, a bit offended by the doctor suggesting such a thing. "He may have had a part in Chloe's death, but I don't want him to die."

"Then what do you want to happen to him because of it?"

Lois moved her mouth to speak but found that she was struggling to find something to say. "Well... I, uh... I-I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I've been so focused on being angry at him, at blaming him for what happened that I never thought about what I wanted to happen to him because of Chloe's death. Hell, I never thought I'd find the guy Chloe had been chasing."

"Would you like him punished? Do you just want him to walk around guilty, like you have? That may already be happening. Do you want any sort of retribution, or do you just want him out of your life? These are the kinds of things I want you to think about, Lois."

"I hate it when you give me things to think about," Lois grumbled. "It always makes my life more complicated."

"Just part of therapy, Lois. While I'm here to help you through things, I'm also here to make you consider reasons that you wouldn't have normally considered." Just then, something seemed to catch the doctor's eye and she pointed at Lois's arm. "You got a tattoo?"

Lois glanced at her arm; the damn thing was so new that she still forgot it was there at times. "Yeah, but... yeah."

"Two questions: what prompted that decision, and what does it mean?"

Crap. She hadn't thought about the why of the tattoo situation. Damn Clark Kentཀ "Uh, well, the decision was kind of the result of me seeing if I was brave enough to face a needle for a couple hours. Turns out I was." That sounded lame, but hopefully it got the trick done. "And it means soul mate."

Dr. Washburn's eyebrows climbed up her forehead in surprise. "I never expected you to be somebody that believes in that type of thing."

Lois sighed, unconsciously rubbing the spot where the tattoo was. "Yeah, I never thought that I was somebody that believed in that sort of thing either. Guess sometimes we don't know ourselves as well as we think we do."  
"Did your connection with Clark prompt this, Lois?"

"I think I was drunk on orgasms, truthfully, when I thought that this thing was a good idea."

"I've been a therapist for ten years, and I don't think I've ever heard somebody proclaim to be drunk on orgasms before. I guess it could be an apt saying, in some physiological ways."

Lois nodded. "It's true for me. Well, it was a combination of orgasms and, just, everything being easy with him. I mean, everything worked between us. We fell into easy banter without even trying. This was beyond me wanting to have sex, and hell, he'd never even had sex before in his lifeཀ He wasn't just trying to get into my pants. It all just got to me and made me stupid."

"It's not stupid to trust somebody, Lois."

Lois scoffed, rubbing at her nose. "Yeah, well, maybe not, but I certainly trusted the wrong man, didn't I?"

"Is that part of why you're so angry?"

"Is what part of why I'm so angry?"

"Your feelings for Clark. Are you angry at yourself for getting into something so deep with somebody that you feel is the cause of all the hardships in your life?"

"I'm not angry at _myself,_ I'm angry at CLARKཀ This is what I get for being trusting again. From now on I should probably do a complete background check before getting involved with somebody to avoid a situation like this..." She stopped when the doctor made a sound.

"_Is_ there another situation like this?"

Lois rolled her eyes and shifted to another sitting position, with one leg folded beneath her. "You know what I mean."

"Lois, I'm going to boil things down for you. First, you found out that Clark is somebody you never thought he could be. As a result, you've shifted a lot of the blame you put on yourself onto him. Part of this, though, is that you're angry at yourself for getting close to somebody that you feel caused such a negative impact on your life. You're directing that anger at him, though, on top of the other anger. And as a result of what happened with him, a deep, personal connection, you talk like it may take a small miracle to open up to another guy."

Lois thought things over for a second, scratching at an itch on her neck as she chewed on her lower lip. "Yeah, that sounds like an accurate portrayal of everything we've covered today. I'm not so sure about the small miracle thing, but it'll take something akin to what I had with Clark."

"Most people don't get what you had with Clark, Lois."  
She shrugged. "Better to have loved and lost and all that jazz, right?"

"That's a sad pronouncement for yourself. Do you think you'll ever be open to try and forgive Clark, maybe trying to work things out with him?"

Lois looked her therapist straight in the eye. "No."

Clark touched down softly on the gravel driveway of the farm, shoving his hand in his pockets as he walked to the house. Plastering on a smile to cover up his dreary mood, he gave a quick knock on the door so his mom would know he was coming in before entering. He was greeted by a smile and a hug as he shut the door, as was her usual greeting to him. "Hi, mom."

She pulled away and looked up at him, her smile melting into a frown after second. "What's wrong?"

Damn. She could always read him like a book. Well, maybe _this_ time she'd buy his denial. "Nothing's wrong, mom. Can't a guy take an afternoon off work to fly out and see his mother?"

She raised an eyebrow, but still smiled. "Clark, why do you still try? I can tell you're miserable."

"How do you always know?"

"I saw you walking up the driveway with your hands in your pockets. You only ever do that when something is bothering you, weighing heavily on your mind. Plus, I'm your mother; there are a million little tells, and that one is the most obvious."

Clark pulled off his jacket, hanging it over the back of a chair as he sat down. "Remind me to never play poker against you. You know, if either of us played poker."

"What do you think I do when I get together with my friends, Clark? Knit?"

"Poker? Really?"

"Among other things, but that's not important." She walked over and rested a hand on his back. "What's wrong?"

"Short version? I went for it with Lois, it was great for two or three days, then she found out that I was the reason that Chloe was in Metropolis when she was killed, taking all the blame she'd placed on herself over the years for not stopping her from crossing the street without looking and putting it square on my shoulders, where it probably belongs."

Clark looked up and saw that his mother was rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "I think you're going to need to fill in some details for me, Clark."  
"Lois Lane is... _was_ Chloe's cousin. She was with her when Chloe was coming to see me, and saw her get killed. Over the years she's blamed herself for Chloe's death, using it as her impetus for being the best journalist she could be. Chloe never told her that it was me that lived there, and I assume if she checked to see who lived there all she found out was that it was some guy named Kal, my alias. But now she's found out that it was me Chloe chased, and is doing her best impression of somebody in my life right after I got back from running away."

"How bad is it?"

"Oh, I basically don't exist. But at least I have this to fall back on: I gave her the bracelet, she put it on, and in a flash of light was gone, replaced by a tattoo for the Kryptonian version of the words soul mate. So, in the great cosmic joke that is my life, I found my soul mate only to lose her like that," he said as he snapped his fingers.

"Oh, Clark," he heard his mother say, but he just let his face rest in his hands.

"I thought I'd gotten past all this, mom. I thought I was done losing people over my poor decisions more than a decade ago, but noཀ No, I think that whenever I find a bit of happiness, that incident is going to rear its ugly head and make sure that I get a new round of guilt, because what's life without feeling guilty?" He paused a second before continuing. "I'm never going to leave it behind, am I? It's always going to haunt me, a ghost from my past I'll never leave behind, taunting me as happiness slips through my fingers."

Rubbing away a tear in the corner of his eye, Clark stood up. "God, listen to me. I thought I'd left all this in the past, but apparently ten years of traveling and trying to figure out my place in the world only means nothing has really changed." Running a hand over his face, Clark sighed. "I need to take a few laps around the world, try to clear my head."

"Clark, sit down."

Stopping as he reached for the door, Clark let his hand drop and shuffled back over to the chair he'd been sitting in, not meeting his mother's eyes as he did so. He felt a hand come up under his chin and lift it until he was looking at her, his watery eyes unable to hide the pain. She smiled a teary smile at him. "I'm so sorry, Clark. My little boy... I wish I could bear your burden, take away at least a little bit of your pain, but I can't. Nobody can. You have to see the light through the darkness or you'll always be miserable."

"How am I supposed to see the light, mom? There is no light. I live in a black hole, where light goes to die."

"There's always light, Clark. It may be dim, but it's there, I promise."

Clark swallowed tried to smile, failing miserably. "Will I ever see it?"

"If you're vigilant, and open to the thought that happiness is something you'll find, then yes."

Vigilance and openness. "Well, I've tried forgetting and leaving for years on end, so I guess your way would be the next step, wouldn't it?" Shaking his head, he did his best to smile. "Got anything to eat, mom? All this depression is making me hungry."


	17. Chapter 17

-- Chapter 17

Two Years Later

Pulling her box of chicken fried rice into her lap, Lois took a bite before jamming her fork back into the food, leaving it there while typing. After finishing off the next to last paragraph she moved to continue, but found herself lacking the words. Rubbing at the spot between her eyebrows, a spot the always got tense when she couldn't find words, she slumped back into her chair and went back to eating.

A few bites and no words written later, she felt like somebody was reading her article over her shoulder. She knew who it was without bothering to look back. "Have I not voiced how much I hate people reading over my shoulder enough? I'll be happy to do it again because it would be a nice release and make my tense spot less tense."

"I wouldn't do it if it didn't bother you so much." A hand emerged from out of sight and pointed at the paragraph she'd just written. "You don't need another paragraph, just a sentence or two at the end here. Something like 'Given all the evidence, it appears that LexCorp's claims will ring false in the end.'"

Damn, he was right. Scowling, Lois typed it out and reread the paragraph. It worked. Putting her food on the desk, she spun her chair around. "I would have gotten that."

"I know. You always think better when you aren't eating, though. I think all the blood drains from your brain and goes to your stomach."

"Well that's a pleasant thought," Lois deadpanned.

"Uh oh, did I point out something that was better left to ignorance?" He grinned at her and leaned down, placing a quick kiss on her lips before moving over and sitting down in a chair. "Sorry I took so long, but I think that may have been the longest conference call I've ever had to deal with."

"That's what you get for taking a newspaper job where you aren't writing. I mean, what's the point?"

"The point is to make sure that the paper is still alive to keep people like you writing. Speaking of, why don't you email that to Perry so he can edit it before he heads out for the night?"

With a quick look back to her keyboard, she hit a button and the article was emailed. Grabbing the unopened cartoon of food on her desk, she handed it over along with a plastic fork. "I got you orange chicken this time. Remembered you didn't feel well after the duck last week."

"You probably only remembered because you were up half the night taking care of me."

Smirking, Lois took a bite and spoke around it. "That did cross my mind, yes. Not that I mind taking care of you, but I do love to sleep."

"My hero."

"Damn right." Lois grinned at him and took a drink of water. "So, you getting cold feet yet?"

"No reason to. You?"

"Wearing warm socks. Can't believe the wedding is only three days away."

Richard smiled at her and got up, grabbing a napkin out of the bag the food had come in and wiping his mouth off. "Three days until you add White to your name. I think it's a good color on you."

Lois let her grin melt into a warm smile that adorned her face whenever she thought about spending her life with Richard White. "The best."

With a glance, Clark saw Lois and Richard conversing, rubbing at his neck a second before going back to writing his article. He figured it would get easier to see them together, maybe, as the years went by. It was already better than it was over a year ago when they'd revealed they were together. Every time he spotted Lois at that point made him feel like his heart was being torn out. No big deal, really. Now, it was only half his heart being torn out. Another few years and he'd be so numb to life through loneliness that he wouldn't feel it anymore.

He'd tried dating numerous times. He'd put his all into it, doing his best to give it a real chance.

None of them were Lois.

His vigilance in waiting for her to one day come around had paid no dividends. A month after their falling out she'd gone and gotten another tattoo, reading _Numquam Obliviscere_. It had taken a little time for him to learn what it read, given her view of him, but he'd figured out that it was the Latin phrase for 'never forget'. It was on the same arm as the tattoo proclaiming her as his soul mate, a few inches below it. He was still a bit shocked that it hadn't read 'never forgive'; it seemed more apropos given everything, but probably would have been more difficult for her to explain.

Three days until his soul mate married somebody else.

Not that there was anything he could do to change it. She hadn't spoken to him in two years; he'd saved her numerous times, and she'd never uttered a word to him or looked him in the eye. Apparently Lois Lane really was a woman of her word. She wouldn't spit on him if he was on fire. He wouldn't need her to, but it was the lack of thought that counted.

Her aversion to him had caused some interesting situations. She refused to cover Superman because she knew that it was him. She was so adamant about not covering Superman personally that Perry had figured out that it was him. That had been a _great _day, explaining to his boss that he was moonlighting as protector of Metropolis and the world. The fact that she hadn't told Perry outright had given him an inkling of hope, but that had been soundly quashed with time.

It was difficult to be an icon of hope for the world when one had none. People looked to him to be a beacon blazing in the sky. As a result, his goal every morning was to not become so depressed that he didn't care about the cries for help he heard. He might eventually become numb to the pain of Lois with somebody else, but he couldn't allow himself to become numb to the people that needed help.

Just because he was going to be alone, forever, didn't mean that others deserved to suffer the consequences of his youthful idiocies. That was for him, and him alone to do. It might have helped if he had somebody to talk to, but ever since his mother had died from a stroke a year ago there had been nobody. No parents to give advice, no friends to lean on... just him.

One of these days he might get around to changing his name to Atlas and fly around with a big A on his chest instead.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Clark looked back at what he was writing and put the finishing touches on what he'd written. He sent one copy to the printer and emailed another to Perry. Pushing himself up, Clark shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way over to the printer, waiting a few minutes before his article actually emerged. He headed back across the bullpen and knocked on Perry's door. When all he got for an answer was a noncommittal grunt, he frowned and opened the door, sticking his head in. "You all right, Perry?"

Perry waved him in without looking away from his computer screen. Closing the door behind himself, Clark made his way to a chair and sat down. Perry said nothing for a moment, holding up a finger as Clark fidgeted, finally lowering it when he looked away from his screen. "I want you to take the next two days off."

"Uh, why?"

"The girl that haunts your dreams is getting married this weekend. You're distracted, to say the least; a third of your day is spent as Superman, a third is spent working and the last third is you glancing at Lane and then doing nothing as you mentally abuse yourself. I should have made you take this whole week off, but the quality of your article tonight just proves that you're not going to be any good to me."

Clark slumped a little. "I-I thought that it was pretty... well, ok, I knew it wasn't great, but it's good... enough." Clark sighed, putting down the hard copy he'd printed on the desk.

"Good enough isn't what The Daily Planet is about, Kent."

"I know." Running a hand through his hair, Clark stood up. "My articles have been getting worse for a while now, Perry. Maybe half are good enough for The Planet. When it comes time to... once my articles are bad enough, don't hesitate to fire me. I'm not stupid; I know I'm not good enough anymore and that I'm only here because of your knowledge about what I do. If I had any other editor I'd have been gone months ago. You have no idea how much I appreciate that, but I don't deserve special treatment. Treat me as you would anybody else."

"If anybody deserves a bit of special treatment, it's you, but if that's the way you want it..."

Clark nodded as Perry trailed off. "It is."

"All right." Perry opened up a desk drawer and held out a file. Clark took it, but didn't look inside. "There's a scientist at STAR Labs claiming that he's developed a method of time travel and wants me to send Lane to cover it. He's getting you Monday afternoon. If it's viable, which is extremely unlikely, I want the story. If it's not, I want you to research how STAR Labs awards funding and do an exposé on how this potential crackpot sucked up money that could have gone to something much more useful. Prove to me with this article that you're still the Clark Kent I hired and you'll always have a job while I'm the editor. Drop the ball, and I'll let you go."

Swallowing thickly, Clark pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Fair enough. I'll set up the interview. When's the deadline?"

"In the unlikely scenario that he has, in fact, found a way to travel through time, I want it ASAP. If it's bullshit, have the article on their funding process to me in two weeks. Now get out of here. I'll see you Monday morning."

"You wanted to see me, Chief?" Lois sat down, settling herself into one of Perry's chairs as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her boss eyed her a moment before he got around to saying anything.

"How are the nerves?"

"Don't have any. It's why I'm such a good reporter."

"I'd be more inclined to call some of your decisions insanity, but that's just me and everybody else." Lois rolled her eyes and watched as Perry stood up. "So, here's what's going to happen: you're going to sit there and listen silently while I talk. Got it?"

Lois couldn't help but smirk, then motioned with her hand as if she were zipping her lips shut. She held out a hand to Perry indicating that her mouth was closed.

"This isn't about an article, Lois, and it isn't about you marrying into my family, which still gives me the occasional nightmare. This is about you helping somebody in desperate need of it. This is about you doing something you find not only distasteful, but unthinkable."

This didn't sound good. She was itching to say something, but Perry seemed serious about his non-talking policy at the moment.

He looked her in the eye and leaned forward, resting his hands on his desk. "I want you to forgive Clark." Lois tensed up and was about to say something when Perry pointed at her. "Heyཀ You zipped your mouth closed, so keep it that wayཀ I've spent the past two years walking on eggshells around you, never mentioning Clark Kent in any capacity, and then not Superman once I put two and two together. It's annoyed the hell out of me so you're going to listen to what I have to say about him. Oh, and if you're thinking about getting up and leaving, don't bother coming back. I've put up with your stuff, so now it's time you return the favor."

Lois fixed her best glare on Perry, but found that he wasn't fazed by it. She was going to have to improve her glare for the next time she got into an occasion like this.

"Clark is drowning. He's lost anything and everything he's ever cared about. He lost his friends and a parent as a kid, and then he lost his mother a year ago. He just had to suck it up and keep on living. There was no slack for him, and he survived. Barely. He's still surviving, but just by the skin of his teeth, and I don't think he's going to last much longer.

"His job is riding on his next article, Lane. I doubt you've read one thing he wrote in the last two years, so let me give you the heads up: his work has gone steadily downhill. The article he turned in tonight was not good, at all. A step above awful, really. He knows his work is suffering and asked me not to treat him special just because he has special circumstances, so I'm not. If this next one doesn't cut it, he's out. Now, I figure you're going to burst if you don't say something, so you get fifteen words."

Lois thought for a moment, picking her words carefully. "I really don't care if you fire Clark. Not seeing him everyday would be great."

"Yeah, well, he's a damn good reporter when life isn't kicking him while he's down. Good enough to be your partner, and not many people are that good. Don't worry; I'm not going to put you two together again. That would be idiocy, given your feelings. I am, however, going to ask you to do something for him, which is grant a little forgiveness. Ten words."

"Don't need ten. He gets nothing from me, ever."

Perry crossed his arms and frowned at her a second. "What does the tattoo mean? Not the Latin; I know that. The symbol."

Lois ground her teeth for a second. "Soul mate," she said, unable to hide her displeasure at having to utter those words.

Suddenly a look of recognition crossed Perry's face. "That's Kryptonian, isn't it? You two clicked so quickly when you were partners, and something happened between you two. Somehow you ended up getting that tattoo, and that's why you had 'never forget' written beneath it."

Lois stood up, shaking her head. "We're done, Perry."

"Damn, it is nice to have some answers for once. Trying to figure things out with you two when you have pretty much no facts is a pain in the ass, but let me see if I have things correct. You two are partnered, click, sleep together and get real chummy real quick. You find out what happened and swear that you'll never forgive him. Am I right?"

"You're now caught up with what happened two years ago, Perry. Congratulations."

"It's time you stop being angry, Lane. You're going into a marriage with my nephew with this big dark cloud hanging over your head, and I don't like it. You need to make peace with Kent. You don't even have to forgive him; talk to him, make eye contact... just acknowledge his existence."

Lois squared her shoulders as she faced Perry. "Never." With that, she walked out of the office.

"Do you know what it took for me to open up to him?"

"I have a feeling, but I'm sure you'll tell me to make sure I know."

Lois glared at her sister, who just smiled back sweetly. "I'm trying to get a bit of my last minute crazy out in the open here so that I don't end up unloading on somebody during the rehearsal."

"So you're going to unload on me instead? I'm touched, in all the wrong places."

"First off, that's disturbing. Secondly, you're my sister AND my maid of honor, and therefore bound by both sisterly and maid of honorly law to listen to me, tell me that I'm being normal with the craziness and calm me down. Without alcohol, of course, since I don't want to be drunk tonight. Knowing you, we'd be through half a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, which I would really NOT want to know how you got, before you thought I was even _starting _to calm down."

"It's no crime to like good scotch, even if one procures it through less than savory channels. Plus, honorly isn't even a word, miss writer. Well, not the way you used it, but whatever. It's your big event and I'm just along for the ride. Vent away."

Lois rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly before getting back to what she'd originally wanted to say. "All right, so, as I was saying, do you know what it took for me to open up to him? I had planned on opening up to somebody pretty much never, and then Richard came along. He asked me out a couple times and I declined less than politely. But he kept badgering and annoying the hell out of me until I finally just gave in to get him off my case."

"So, kind of like you trying to get an interview."

Lois nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Hadn't ever really thought about it like that. Anyway, so more or less against my will, I had a really good time with somebody that I just wanted to get out of my way so I could live my life in peace. After everything with..." She paused, realizing the name she'd almost uttered. She'd had about two thoughts about the man in two years until Perry had brought him up.

"After everything that had happened in my life, with Chloe and otherwise, peace was a goal for me. I couldn't remember what it was like to not just have a peaceful life, but a peaceful mind, a mind that didn't remind me every minute of every day that I was guilty of failing Chloe. I thought if I could achieve that, I might be able to get around to having something like what I have with Richard.

"I find now, though, that I have some peace of mind and in my life with him. I don't want to say that he calms me down, but... he does. It's to the point now that just by being around him, I feel like I'm able to process my thoughts better, which in turn makes my life run more smoothly. Have you ever experienced anything like that, Luce?"

"No, and I kind of hope I don't. My thought process is just fine as it is, thank you."

Lois scoffed loudly at that. "I could definitely argue that point, but that's for another time. As I was saying, though, I felt better about everything in my life the longer my relationship with Richard went on. Not because he was what made my life great, but just the effect he had on me made everything feel less discombobulated, less time consuming and less of pretty much all those other unsavory things."

"So, essentially what you're saying is that he makes you feel better about what you do, how you do things and about life in general?"

Lois thought about it for a second before nodding thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess."

Lucy got up out of her chair and walked over, clapping her on the shoulder before walking into the kitchen. "Congratulations, sis, you're completely normal. You've found a great guy that makes you happy and feel better about yourself. You've now officially won at life. I think this calls for a toast."

Rubbing at her forehead, Lois sighed. "Seriously, any excuse to drink? Have you considered that you might be an alcoholic?"

"Haཀ The only time I ever drink is with I'm with you. I used to drink with you because you were this big walking thing of guilt molded into person form. Now I drink because you feel the need to talk about things so much that it makes me want to numb my brain a little so listening will be easier."

"You always know how to make me feel good about myself, Lucy." She took a snifter from Lucy, frowning. "There are some scotch glasses in there, ya know."

Her sister sat down, smiling. "I saw 'em, but I like having an excuse to say the word snifter. It makes me laugh. Well, it does when I'm not saying that it makes me laugh." She held up her glass. "To you and Richard: may you have the happiness you both deserve."

Lois smiled and held up her glass a second before lowering it and taking a sip.

Opening his eyes, Clark blinked a few times before he pulled a hand up to his face and rubbed some sleep out of his eyes. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was eight in the morning and for a second was able to be blissfully ignorant. Then it hit him.

Lois was married.

It was official now.

He was going to be alone forever.

Curling up into the fetal position, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

The cab ride to STAR Labs was more or less silent, which was fine by Clark. He had no inclination to talk any more than necessary. He'd barely felt like saying a word to anybody since his realization the previous morning. What the hell was the point?

When the taxi stopped, Clark paid the driver and got out, shoving his hands into his pockets before starting the walk towards the building. Doing it slowly, he took in the scenery around him, not really seeing the beauty that he once had. The world had officially turned a dull shade of what it had once seemed to him.

After presenting his credentials to the security guard inside, he headed to the elevator. A minute later he walked out, heading towards the office of the man that had supposedly invented time travel. He knocked on the door before heading inside, looking around as he closed the door behind himself. Suddenly a man popped into his line of sight from somewhere off to the left.

"Mr. Kent?"

Clark walked over and held out a hand. "Dr. Jayne, I presume."

"Yes, that's me. Are you ready to see my time travel device? They said it couldn't be done, but I found a way to do it. Follow me."

The man started walking and Clark followed. They headed deeper into the lab for a minute until they reached a back wall that had two large metal pillars. Clark reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pencil and notepad. "So, how exactly does your time travel process work, Dr. Jayne?"

"The simple version is that I create a wormhole in time. I imagine you'll want to know how, and the answer is as follows: dark energy."

Clark's eyebrows rose. "Dark energy? You figured out a way to harness it?"

"I was as shocked as you when my method worked, Mr. Kent. I'd fully expected to spend a long portion of my life working out the energy detail of the time travel problem. But, lo and behold, it worked and now time travel is possible." He waved his hands at the pillars behind him. "This is the big, impressive model." He reached down and grabbed a backpack, and Clark took it from him as he held it out. "This is the new and improved version. Much more streamlined. Originally I designed it to just be a return device, but what fun would that be? One would always have to return to the present before going to a new year."

Raising an eyebrow, Clark unzipped the backpack and found it to be packed solid with a bunch of stuff he didn't recognize, and one thing he did: a time and date screen. He looked back up at doctor. "So I just set this and it can take me to whenever?"

"That about covers it, Mr. Kent." He pointed to a button. "When you want to return to the present, push that button. The device has an internal chronometer that stops the second it leaves the present. Once pushed, that button will open a wormhole to three seconds after you left. It will be as if you never left."

Nodding, Clark shoved his notepad back into his jacket and rubbed at his neck as he tried to think of when to go to. How was he supposed to choose? What year or event could possibly motivate him enough to...

His fingers moving more quickly than they should in front of somebody that didn't know he was Superman, Clark set the date on the backpack for August 14th, 2003 at 6:30p.m.

"Have you thought of a time you would like to go to, Mr. Kent?"

"I really have," he said as he heard a whirling noise start before there was a crack and a flash of light a few feet in front of him. He was presented with the vision of a swirling vortex of light, which made him stare for a moment before he hefted the backpack onto his shoulder and jumped into it.

Landing, Clark found himself in the lab, though it was much less cluttered than it had been. Checking to make sure nobody was around, he super sped out of the building, stopping in a closed off area outside. Walking out onto the street, Clark made his way over to a newspaper dispenser, popping a couple quarters in and pulling out a paper. The date read August 14th, 2003.

Running a hand through his hair, Clark almost smiled. There was work to be done.

Pulling off his jacket, Clark tossed it onto a bench a couple feet away before ruffling up his hair so that it looked more like it had when he was younger. He tossed his glasses over with the jacket and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows before looking up into the sky and taking off.

"Why are we going to see this guy, Chloe?"

Chloe did her best to drown out Lois' complaints, instead focusing on what she was doing. She needed to get Clark back home. The Kent's were losing the farm, and he'd be able to help. He always seemed to be able to help, no matter the situation.

"So he ran away from the small town to live in the big city? Had I lived someplace called Smallville my whole life I would have run away, too. From the looks of things, it doesn't appear that he's doing too poorly for himself. Quite the opposite, really."

"I know, Lois, but I have to at least try to convince him to go home. His parents are worried sick about him."

"Then tell them he's hereཀ Who cares if you promised him you wouldn't. In the end, he'll thank you for it, even if he isn't too fond of you in the short term."

Chloe sighed, having no desire to say what she had to say again. "I have to keep my word, Lois. It took me a while to find him, and he threatened to disappear again if I told anybody where he is. You don't know him like I do; if he sets his mind to something he's going to find a way to do it." Chloe stopped, her cousin following suit next to her as she looked over at her. "Look, the elevator's right over there across the street. I'm going to go up and talk to him. You should stay here."

"Fine by me. Of course," Lois said, pointing with her chin, "if that's him you're going to have to hustle."

Chloe's eyes widened as she recognized Clark, and was about to say something when she spotted somebody behind them.

"Chloeཀ Hey, Chloe, wait upཀ"

Turning to look at who was calling her, Chloe's mouth fell open as she saw who it was behind them. "Clark?" Turning to look at the apartment he'd taken up residence in, she could still spot him walking away. She turned her head to the other Clark, the one approaching them now, beyond confused. "But... what... how the..."

The second Clark didn't stop, but walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. A long hug. She eventually wrapped her arms around him for a second before he let go, pushing her back but holding her at arms length. "You have no idea how good it is to see you, Chloe." He looked over at her cousin, and Chloe saw his face twist a bit. "Hey, Lois."

"What... wait. How do you know Lois?"

"Very good question, cuz."

"Well, I don't really, but-"

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yup."

"Nope."

Raising an eyebrow, she eyed both Clark and Chloe as they sat around at their respective desks. "I figured you would, Chlo, and I also figured you wouldn't Clark."

"Would you care to elaborate so that I DO understand?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Great, thanks."

"Not a problem." Standing up, Lois stretched a second and covered her mouth as she yawned. "I'm done for the night. What about you two?"

Clark stood up, pulling his jacket off his chair. "Considering you and I are partners, I'm also done."

"I still have a bit of work to do, so I'll catch you guys later," Chloe said, smiling. "See you guys tomorrow, I guess?"

"Will do, cuz."

Making their way to the elevator, Lois walked in once the door opened, and stood silently for a moment until the doors closed with Clark beside her.

"You haven't told her yet, have you?"

She didn't bother to spare him a look. "I'm still trying to figure out how."

"There's not going to be a good way."

"I know."

"The offer still stands; I'll tell her if you don't want to."

Lois raked a hand back through her hair. "She's my family, Smallville. I'll be the one to tell her."

"She's in love with me, Lois, not you. Well, she _loves_ you, but not... you know what I mean."

"Doesn't change anything. You've never returned those feelings, but she's never gotten past her high school crush. It's simple as that. I can't help that we fell in love, and neither can you. It just... happened."

"Well, you better tell her soon, or she's going to start asking questions you won't be able to answer."

Lois rested a hand on her stomach and sighed before leaning over and resting her head on Clark's shoulder. "I know. How do you tell your best friend and cousin that you've fallen in love and are having a baby with the man she's always wanted to be hers, though?"


	18. Chapter 18

-- Chapter 18

"It is a _ridiculously_ beautiful day outside today. Why are we cooped up inside?"

"You raise an interesting point," Clark said as he sat up a little bit straighter. Massaging his shoulder a bit to give his hand something to do, he looked over at Chloe. "Have any ideas as to what we should be doing, or are you just pointing out things you feel need to be pointed out?"

"It's Saturday in Metropolis, Clark. We could do any number of things, really. We could go to the park and do something. Like maybe have a picnic?"

Clark quirked an eyebrow up, though was smiling as well. "You, me and Lois going out for a picnic? First off, I'd end up making all the food because you two are so bad in the kitchen that you can't make a sandwich correctly. Secondly, we've never, ever gone on a picnic together before, and it doesn't seem like the kind of thing Lois would vote for doing."

"If we did actually vote, and you voted yes, it would be two to one in favor of a picnic and she'd just have to live with it. Come on, Clarkཀ We spend all our time inside at work, be it typing an article or doing an interview."

"Since when did you become a champion for doing things outside, Chloe?"

"Like I said, beautiful day. And hey, if Lois is adamant about not wanting to go, it could just be the two of usཀ" Chloe's smile widened a bit. "Believe it or not, I do make a mean bottled water, so you wouldn't have to get that ready for the picnic."

Rolling his eyes, Clark did his best impression of Lois and smirked at her. "Thank you for saving me from the onerous task of grabbing water out of the fridge, Chloe. I don't know how I would have _possibly_ managed. And hey, we aren't going to ditch Lois. We always do things together. It's kind of our thing."

"You've been back from your travels a year and a half, Clark," Chloe said as she sat up from her slumped position on the couch, "and we've barely done anything that was just the two of us. Hell, when Lois moved to Smallville our senior year of high school the only stuff we did just the two of us was fight against the meteor infected that flipped out, then the Zoners and whoever else came after that. The last time you and I just went out and had a drink... well, we've never gone out and just had a drink. The last time it was just the two of us in a setting that didn't involve you fighting somebody or moping over a girl was... well, a long time ago."

"Chloe," Clark started but was interrupted by the sounds of a flushing toilet and the door to Lois and Chloe's bathroom opening up. Lois walked out and plopped down on the couch next to Chloe.

"What'd I miss?"

"Before we get into that," Chloe said, "I have to ask why you're peeing like four times an hour all the time now. Isn't that a bit weird?"

"I think it's weird that you're counting."

"That doesn't change how often you have to go, Lo, not to mention the fact that you've been fighting a stomach bug for the past couple weeks and holy crap how did I not put this together before?" Clark fought the urge to wince and was going to try and change the subject but Chloe spoke before he could. "You're pregnantཀ"

Great, now he had to feign ignorance of the whole situation. "What? Chloe, don't you think you're reaching a bit? You know a stomach virus has been going around the office ever since Marcy got sick from something her son picked up at school."

"I do know that, but everybody else that's had that said they were just sick for a day or two and then felt better, including me. Lois has been throwing up off and on for a while now, plus all the peeing and not to mention that she's been using her lunch hour to catch naps recently, tooཀ" Chloe turned from facing him to Lois. "You are _so_ pregnantཀ"

"Looks like my bag is officially cat-less," Lois mumbled. Clark heard her sigh, and knew that she was going to confirm the fact that she was pregnant, but had no idea how she was going to approach things if the father came up. "Yes, I'm pregnant. On a positive note, now that you know, I can complain about it openly, and my first complaint is as follows: morning sickness blows. My second complaint? It really pisses me off that I have to pee so much, and yes, the pun was intended. I am going to go insane if my whole pregnancy is like this, what with the running to the bathroom every fifteen to twenty minutes."

"You didn't even tell me that you were seeing somebody, Loisཀ I mean, there are dozens of questionsཀ Have you told _him_ yet? More importantly, who is he and do I know him? God, why would you hide a relationship from Clark and I, let alone the fact that you're pregnant? You and I have basically been sisters for years; we're a lot closer than you and Lucy are, and Clark is almost as close to both of us."

Clark leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he watched Lois stare a hole in the wall. Suddenly she turned her head and faced him, the worry etched on her face. He could tell what she was going to do without having to hear the words: the proverbial beans were about to be spilled. He observed as Lois turned back to face Chloe. Going over and sitting next to Lois crossed his mind, but he wanted Chloe to hear the news before seeing it.

"The reason I didn't tell you about my relationship, and my pregnancy, Chloe, is because I thought you might feel hurt."

"What? That doesn't make any sense. I would have been over the moon for you, because this appears to be something you want instead of simply a mistake."

"Actually, considering you've had feelings for the man I love and the father of my child since high school, unreturned feelings, I thought you might be hurt by the fact that we entered into a relationship, and subsequently parenthood together, though the parenthood wasn't exactly planned. Apparently when they say five years for the implant, they mean four years and seven months."

Chloe's eyes went wide, and Clark figured it was now safe to move over and sit by Lois. "I'm sorry, Chloe, that we didn't tell you. We tried, but we never seemed to figure out the right way to do it."

"So you do it THIS way instead?" Chloe stood up, rubbing a hand over her face. "I can't believe this is happening... I can't believe you guys thought you couldn't tell me about thisཀ"

Lois stood up and Clark followed, though he stayed in place as Lois moved closer to her cousin. "Chloe, it's the worst kept secret in the world that you've been hung up on Clark for years. Hell, I've asked you about it before and you've said that you can't seem to move on from your feelings, that when you try being with other guys they never measure up to the standard in your head."

Chloe sputtered for a second. "But... I..."

"We're sorry that we told you this way, Chlo," Lois said, "but we're not sorry that we found each other. If us being together is a problem for you, and I hope it isn't, tell us. We'll keep our interaction around you to a minimum and..."

"How would that help?" Chloe didn't look either of them in the eye, and Clark found that the most disheartening considering Chloe could stare a terrorist in the eye and not budge an inch. "You're right; I've been hung up on Clark for years. I knew that everybody else knew, but I didn't care. I hoped that someday maybe I'd suddenly stop being the spunky sidekick and have the leading role in his life, but realistically I knew it would never happen. Hard to make reality in the head take over the fantasy you keep in your heart, though.

"I-I'd never ask you guys to be anybody but yourselves around me, and now some of yourselves obviously include parts of the other. While I'm annoyed you didn't just tell me when it started, I'm a little touched that you hid the relationship from me for so long out of deference to my feelings." She kept staring at the floor, and Clark could see her hand shaking as she pushed some hair out of her eyes. "I have to admit, I'm also disappointed in myself for never picking up on any clues. You guys, well... um, I... uh, I don't really know what else to say. I'm gonna... I'm gonna go and... go."

"You don't have to, Chloe," Clark said.

"I, yeah, I-I should. You guys probably want some time alone to bond over your baby and I'm going to take advantage of the beautiful day we were talking about. Congratulations, by the way, Clark. I know how much you've always wanted a family. And to you, too, Lois. You're going to be a great mother."

Chloe made her way towards the door, and Clark was about to move to block it until Lois laid a hand on his arm. He looked at her, and she shook her head. By the time he looked back to the door, Chloe was shutting the door as she left. "Are you sure that we should have let her leave, Lo?"

"No, Smallville, but keeping her here wouldn't have accomplished anything but make things worse. We just told her that her dream of being with you is dead; the only place we could go from there is to tell her all her other dreams are dead, too."

"We should go find her, Lois."

Rubbing at the bridge of her nose, Lois sighed and swivelled in her chair to look over at Clark. "She took the week off from work, Smallville. A bit of deductive reasoning tells us that she doesn't want to see either of us right now. As such, going and finding her would be contrary to what she's trying to accomplish."

"But-"

"It would also be rubbing our relationship in her face, Clark," she said as she turned back towards her desk. "That's pretty much the last thing I want to do to her. Hell, it's the whole reason she took time off. If she doesn't want to see us, then I am going to grant that wish."

"We don't even know where she's staying, Lo. She could be anywhere."

"Which would make it difficult to find her. I taught her how to disappear to help her find you when you had your summer in Metropolis as a teenager. Knowing Chloe, she remembers every bit of what I taught her and even figured out a way to improve the techniques. It'd probably be a month before we even got a lead, and since she'll be back a lot sooner than that, there's not much point."

She glanced at Clark, seeing his face, and turned her body to face him again. Moving over, she took his hand and placed a soft kiss on it. "I'm as worried about her as you are, Clark. More so, maybe. She's my baby cousin, but you know we're a lot closer than that. I've spent a good bit of my life worrying about her as much as I have Lucy, and that will never change. I want some concrete proof that she's all right, but right now I just have to rely on my faith in her to know she's out there somewhere taking care of herself. Chloe survived Smallville and everything that happened because of it; she'll survive our relationship, too."

Keeping her eyes fixed on the sidewalk ahead of her, Chloe walked without taking much notice of what was around her. Lois and Clark. How the hell had that happened? They were completely different in their approaches to life, and somehow they were together and expecting a child. She hadn't even thought Clark and his Intergalactic Traveler DNA would be able to mix with the DNA of a human to actually _make_ a baby. It didn't make any senseཀ

And they acted like nothing had changed, like this was some logical progression of their work partnership. There was nothing logical about it. They rarely, if ever, agreed on things. Anything. If Clark said up, Lois would say down. Clark said left, Lois said right. That was how they worked, how they had been since day one of their friendship, such as it was. Hell, Clark still claimed he didn't remember when he and Lois first met that day in Metropolis and it still irked her.

Had it been hate sex that had gotten them together? Chloe wouldn't put it past Lois to get into something like that, but it didn't seem like something Clark would do. Mutual sexual frustration? Again, it didn't sound like something Clark would do. He'd had sex with Lana once in college, or maybe it was when they were still in high school, and until now, that was all the experience she was aware of him having. Maybe it had finally built up to the point where Lois had presented the option and he'd taken advantage.

She didn't think that Clark had simply asked Lois out on a date, or vice versa. That was far too traditional and normal for them. They never did _anything_ in a traditional or normal manner.

The question she couldn't shake, though, was why not her? Why hadn't she ever been good enough for Clark? She'd never had delusions that her physical beauty matched that of her cousin's; Lois was tall, leggy and beautiful. Her own body was decidedly less tall and leggy, and while she was in no danger of being called homely, the best she ever got was_ cute. _

What a loaded word. Few in the English language had more underlying meaning to them in her mind. No matter what anybody said, cute was never beautiful. Beautiful was a compliment you gave to a woman. Cute was a compliment you gave to a little kid with a pat on the head or a hair mussing. She was sick of being cute; no matter what she did, no man had ever called her beautiful. Maybe people had thought it a compliment, calling her cute. Idiots.

Who was she kidding? Given the choice between her and most women, guys were going to choose the not her option. She would never be a first choice; Clark, Jimmy and other guys had made that abundantly clear over the years. At this point, she'd be lucky to be a second choice.

It was only partially true that she'd never moved on from Clark, really. Yeah, she'd hoped that someday maybe she'd get lucky and Clark would see her as somebody he could be with, but more than that, it had been safe. You sit around and wait for a guy to notice you, there's never any chance of putting yourself out in the open to really get hurt. Well, not unless your wishful thinking guy and your cousin get together.

At least it wasn't an out and out rejection. More an indirect commentary on the story of her life: coming in second.

Once again, who did she think she was kidding? Lois and Clark had probably never given her a thought until it had occurred to them that their relationship was something beyond sex, and once that had happened all the thought had gone into how to NOT tell her. First on the list of how to not tell her really should have been randomly when they were expecting a baby. It probably would have been a _bit_ less shocking if they'd done it before then.

Running a hand through her hair, Chloe finally arrived at the building she'd been walking to and walked inside, making her way through a small group of people. After getting clearance to go further inside, she headed to the elevator, punching the button for the top floor. After a long ride with numerous stops she was the last one left inside, and stepped out as the doors opened. Walking up to the desk, she smiled at the secretary. "Chloe Sullivan. We didn't have an appointment."

The dark haired woman stood up, and Chloe raised an eyebrow. Who was this woman, a model down on her luck? "Let me show you in."

"You don't have to buzz in and check?"

"You're on the list of people that are to be shown in at once, Ms. Sullivan."

Confused, but not wanting to argue against the fact that she didn't have to wait, she followed the secretary to the door and walked into the large office. It had been a while since she'd been here, but things hadn't changed much, if at all.

"Chloe? What brings you here?"

Bringing her line of sight back to what was in front of her, she half smiled as she spotted the person she'd come to see. "Hey, Ollie. Just needed to get out of Metropolis for awhile, thought I come see a friendly face. Sorry I didn't call first."

He walked around his desk and smiled at her, guiding her to a plush couch. "Don't worry about it, Chloe; you're always a welcome distraction. I'm curious as to what made you need to get out of Metropolis, though."

"Lois and Clark."

"What about them?"

"They're a couple now."

She looked at him, and he frowned. "Well yeah, but everybody in the League has known about that for months. I thought that it was public knowledge." He seemed to figure out what was wrong as Chloe watched his face light up with understanding. "They never told you?"

Chloe shook her head. "No. But now that they're _expecting_, it's good time to let Chloe know that her unattainable dream is officially unattainable."

"Expecting?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and he figured it out quickly. "Oh, _expecting_. That is not yet common knowledge, I guess."

"Fortunately I have the pleasure of being one of the first to know." Chloe rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly. "You can see why I needed a break."

"Yeah, it's pretty much written on your face."

"Great. So, how are you? How are things with Dinah?"

"I'm very good, actually. Queen Industries is the leading business on the west coast, I've been having good success with my extracurricular activities and I'm a happily married man." He lifted his hand, the gold band on his finger glinting off the sun. "I never thought that something so small and simple would mean so much to me. Anyway, I'm good, and so is Dinah. But come on; I've known you for what, about ten years now? We may not be as close as we were back in the day, but I know you stopped by for more than a hello and an update on how I'm doing."

"I want a job, Ollie." Chloe sighed, cracking her neck. "I need to get away from Metropolis for a while, get a fresh start to my life. I've worked my entire life to be the best journalist The Daily Planet has ever seen, but that's not going to happen. Lois has that all wrapped up. She got the guy, too. The life I dreamed of is turning into a nightmare of inaction. I have to change my life before I become old and bitter. I'm not old, yet, but I'm seriously close to bitter.

"So I've thought about it some, and I want to be a part of the League. I haven't let my computer skills deteriorate over the years, so I can be useful to you guys. I want to come back and run Opps and Com again, like I did a few times before."

"Chloe, uh..." Oh crap. Nothing good ever came after a sentence started like that. "I appreciate the offer, and I know you'd be a valuable member of the team, but after the modifications Bruce just made to everything and with J'onn at the helm, you wouldn't really have much to do besides maintenance and the random shift when J'onn is out."

He extended a hand and gave her shoulder what she figured was probably an affectionate squeeze. She smiled at him, or at least smiled as best she could. "Well, it was worth a try. Nothing risked, nothing gained, right?"

"Chloe..."

Standing up, Chloe shoved her hands in her pockets. "It's no big deal, Ollie. I'll figure something out. Thanks for seeing me." She thought she heard him say something, but just kept walking.

Chin resting on fist, Clark had his feet propped up on the coffee table as he hugged Lois to him with one arm and watched the 'movie' she'd picked out. He didn't want to annoy her by falling asleep, but she'd wanted to watch a show on fetal development for the third time. The first time it had been interesting, the second time he'd caught a couple details he missed the first time, and now he was bored out of his mind.

He blinked when she slapped him on the chest. "What?"

"You're not paying attention."

"This is the third time we're watching this, Lois; I paid very rapt attention the first two times. This time, I'm taking a break."

"So is that how it's going to be when it comes to our child, Smallville? After you do something twice, you're taking a break the third time?"

Perfect. "You know that will never happen, Lois."

"Better not," she mumbled as she pushed her face a little deeper into his chest.

This could quite possibly be the longest pregnancy ever. Lois had become very... _attentive_, to what he was or was not doing since becoming pregnant. She might have been just as attentive before the pregnancy, but things he'd done had never been half as big a deal. Maybe this was just a phase... hopefully.

When his phone started to buzz in his pocket, Clark had to shift Lois around a bit before he could pull it out. Checking the ID, he was surprised to see who it was. He flipped open his phone, answering. "Ollie? What's going on?"

"You need to come to Star City."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Chloe is here, and seriously on the outs. She asked me about taking a job with the Justice League today, but there really isn't any spot for her anymore. Between that, and you and Lois springing your blessed event on her without ever telling her that you were together, she looks like she's about ready to just lie down and die."

Clark got up off the couch, pacing a second before answering. "Ollie, this is Chloe we're talking about. I'm sure she'll be fine, given a little time."

"Just come talk to her, Clark. I planted a tracker on her, and you can get her location on your phone."

"What? How?"

"A few modifications were made. Just go to the menu and run down to the GPS option. Sooner rather than later."

There was a click indicating Ollie hanging up, and Clark shut his phone for a second before slipping it open and scrolling to the GPS. It took a second to load, but suddenly he was looking at a map of Star City with a blinking light in the middle of it. "Lois, get dressed."

Shaking his head as he flew, Clark glanced down at Lois as she moved around in his arms a bit. "I can't believe you think Ollie was overreacting."

"Not overreacting, Smallville, so much as not knowing Chloe as well as you and I do. I don't doubt that she's down about everything that's happened between you and I, but being ready to lie down and die? That's just Ollie not knowing Chloe as well as he thinks he does."

"What's wrong with you, Lois?" Clark asked, looking back up and spotting the lights of Star City in the distance. "It's like you refuse to acknowledge that Chloe's even hurt by us having fallen in love."

"I've acknowledged it, Clark, and I told you I'm worried about her, but what am I supposed to do? Sit around and wring my hands until Chloe wants to talk to us again? I love her like a sister, but I'm not going to put my life on hold while she comes to terms. She's twenty-eight, Smallville, not fourteen; it's time Chloe grows up and realizes that sometimes dreams _don't_ come true."

"I'm not saying that we have to put our lives on hold, but you can't have a little empathy?"

"I'm empathetic, but that doesn't make her feel better. _Time_ does. She's going to move on, Smallville, and then this will be a time in her life that she thinks about fondly. It'll be when she stopped living for what she thought could've been and started living for what is and what can be."

Clark thought about arguing further, still not thinking that Lois was taking everything seriously enough, but instead settled for slowing down a bit as they got to the city. "What does the GPS say, Lo?"

She pointed to a tall office building a couple blocks past the Queen Industries Building. "That one."

Flying higher, Clark slowed them to a stop and started lowering them down when they saw Chloe sitting on the edge of the building. Touching down on roof, Lois took off running towards Chloe, and Clark thought she might finally be taking this whole thing seriously. He quickly changed into his street clothes before jogging after her.

"Chloeཀ What the hell are you doing?"

Lois ran a hand back through her hair, realizing that she actually may not have been taking the whole situation as seriously as she should have been. It wasn't that she didn't care, far from it, but she'd just thought Chloe would work it out in her own time and come to the conclusion that now she could really start living. Jumping off a building would in all likelihood be a very poor way to start living.

"When was the last time you came in second, Lois?"

"I don't know... in what?"

"In anything." Chloe made a muffled sound that sounded something like a cross between chuckling and sobbing. "God, the fact that you have to ask is answer enough."

"I don't... I don't understand what you're getting at, Chlo."

The blonde looked back over her shoulder for a second before returning her gaze out towards the city. "I've spent my whole life being not quite good enough. I thought I was used to it, but I was kidding myself. I don't feel this way just because of you and Clark; that was more like the straw that broke the camel's back.

"It hurts to be so close but never there. I've always been second in Clark's eyes, and there's not much I can do about that. He feels how he feels; what am I supposed to do, brainwash him? Then there's my career. Learning to be the best reporter the Daily Planet has ever seen is one of my oldest memories, and what I've wanted since I was old enough to understand the news. I've been so close to achieving my goal, too; two Kerth awards. But are those enough?"

Chloe shrugged, then wrapped her arms around her body as if hugging herself. "I get two Kerth awards and my cousin gets a Pulitzer. She consistently gets the stories I always thought I'd be getting, showing herself to be the best in the business. She and her partner are the subject of publicity for the paper, their personalities and articles selling tons of papers despite the medium being in a serious downturn. I'm not big enough, not good enough for the print medium. I'll _never_ be good enough."

"Chloe, you ARE the bestཀ The only reason I'm as good as I am, that my articles with Clark are as good as they are is because you push me to be betterཀ I know that if I rest on my laurels you're going to pass me by and become the top reporterཀ"

Again, Chloe made the sound that seemed halfway between a sob and a chuckle. "Greatཀ The reason I'm second best is because I'm the competition, pushing you to be betterཀ Jesus, it's like I'm climbing a never ending mountain, always just fifty feet from the top but never going to get there. I'm sure there's something in mythology that my life compares to, but my brain isn't working well enough at the moment to remember what it is."

Lois sighed, glancing at Clark to see if he had anything to say, but he just motioned for her to keep going. Apparently talking people off the ledge wasn't as easy for him as catching the people that had already jumped. "Chlo, you're an amazing journalist, and more importantly you're an amazing person. I love you, no, Clark and I BOTH love you. I don't know what else to say except that we'll always be here for you, and from now on, no more life changing secrets."

"But what am I supposed to live for? I don't have any dreams left. I'll never be the best at reporting, and despite how pathetic I feel for making this statement, I doubt any guy will ever choose to be with me."

"You'll never know unless you move on and try. You _have _to try. Please, Chlo, you have so much to offer to the world through your work, and to offer some guy that will never be good enough for you. Ever. Seriously, I think I'm probably the only woman in the world in love with a guy that's too good for her."

"He's not too good for you, Lois. I may not understand how you two work together, but I know that's not true. He's probably just the right amount of good."

"Well at least you still have your sense of humor," Lois said, stepping closer to where Chloe was sitting. "I hate seeing you down like this, but your life will get better. If you feel like you're so far down that it can't get worse, and sitting on the ledge makes you feel better, then there's nowhere left to go but up. Life has a way of sorting itself out, Chlo. Yes, I know, that's a dumb and useless thing to say, but I don't normally have to talk people off a ledge, so I'm grasping for what I should say."

Chloe slumped a little before spinning around and jumping down onto the roof, arms crossed over her chest. "Not like jumping would have done me much good anyway. Would have been back on the roof two seconds later with Clark here. Also, I wasn't thinking about jumping; just wanted someplace with a view to think about my life and feel sorry for myself."

Lois closed the distance between them and wrapped an arm around her little cousin for a second before just going in for the full blown hug. She wiped away a tear as they pulled apart.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Lo. Didn't think you'd be brought to tears by my depression."

"You underestimate how much I care about you then, Chlo. Also, uh, hormones."

Chloe nodded, but Lois heard a little sigh she let loose. "Right, yeah. Wait, how did you guys even know I was here in Star City? I thought... Ollie called you, didn't he?"

"He did," Clark said as he stepped forward in Lois' line of sight. He reached behind Chloe and plucked what look to be a piece of lint off her shirt. "Guess you had him worried because he planted a tracking device on you. Apparently he modified my phone at some point so that I would be able to pick up GPS signals like this one."

"Handy," Chloe mumbled. "I appreciate you guys coming to see me, to make sure that I wasn't going to do anything drastic, but everything is... well, not ok, but I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"Come home with us," Lois said, shoving her hands into her pockets to keep them from fidgeting. "Clark can carry me in his arms and you on his back, or vice versa."

Chloe motioned with her head off to her left. "I have a hotel room off that way for tonight, and a plane ticket home for tomorrow. I think I'll just use those."

"You sure? You'll have the apartment to yourself tonight because now that everything is in the open, I was going to stay at Clark's. Can sleep in your own bed, which is always nice."

"While I do love my bed, Lo, I don't really feel like riding all the way to Metropolis on Clark's back, and I don't think you should ride home that way, what with the pregnancy. I, uh, I never asked: how far along are you?"

Lois smiled. Hopefully this wasn't a smokescreen, but a sign that things were going to be all right. "Ten weeks. Only Twenty-eight more weeks and pounds to go. Knowing me, the pounds will probably be eclipsed a month early."

"Good times," Chloe said, running a hand over her face. "Yeah, I'm just going to fly back tomorrow on the regular airline instead of the Clark Kent Express, so I'll see you two tomorrow, ok?"

"Yeah, ok. Are you sure you're all right?"

Chloe smiled, though Lois could tell with ease that it was half-hearted at best. "Perfectly fine, Lo. I'm sure with a little time, everything will be back to normal. I'll see you tomorrow."


	19. Chapter 19

-- Chapter 19

"I'm not sure what the time frame on these things is supposed to be, really. I've never actually done it before. I mean, I told you that I was engaged when I was twenty-three, but we never actually went anywhere with the relationship after that. Eight months may be quick for some, but I think we're there and I wouldn't be asking you if you weren't thinking the same thing. So, what do you say?"

Looking down a moment, Chloe couldn't hold back a smile for much longer than a few seconds. Looking up, the smile readily apparent on her face, she nodded. "Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"...Yes?"

"Noཀ" Scowling, Chloe leveled a glare on her cousin, albeit a good natured one. "I'm not going to budge on this. Just because you have Clark to do it with his super speed almost all the time does not mean I will bail you out of a diaper change for Tia. I love you both, but I don't think you changing a diaper is going to kill you."

"Well it's not like I never do it; Clark does spend a lot of time out in the world being Super. I probably do two or three a day, but since you're here I was hoping to make it one or two for the day. Come on, can you really resist this little face?"

Lois held up Tia, who looked at her with her big, wide eyes. Scooting across the couch, Chloe planted a kiss on the one year old's cheek and looked at Lois. "No, but thank you for offering. Now, what do we want to do for dinner?"

She heard Lois grumble as she got up and walked out of the living room and into Tia's bedroom. "Something flavorful," she called out.

Getting up off the couch, Chloe walked over and leaned on the doorjamb. "That's not really helpful, considering you wouldn't eat something that was flavorless. Come on, you gotta have some real ideas. We told your husband we'd have something figured out by the time he got back."

"No, _you_ told him that. I just happened to be in the room at the time."

"Now you're just being silly."

"Guess the pungent fumes are hurting my ability to think straight," Lois said as she finished strapping a new diaper on. Chloe watched as she picked Tia up and gave her the once over before snapping up her clothes again. "If we're going to go with the usual, we can do Chinese, Italian or get burgers from Tom's Diner. If we want something different, I say we try that new Thai place down the road."

Chloe made a face as they went back into the living room, sitting down on the couch again. "Ew, no thanks. I got food poisoning the last time I had Thai. I think I'm still six months from being willing to eat it again."

"Fair enough. New places... well, we could always try the pizza place on 3rd. Clark and I were going to go there for lunch today but he had that plane situation, so I just got a sandwich from the deli. Granted, you know that since I was finishing it off when you got back from lunch with Ethan." Lois waggled her eyebrows and grinned mischievously.

Chloe let her face drop into her hands and let out an exasperated sigh. "What is it going to take for me to convince you that he and I didn't have sex instead of eat?"

"Let's list the facts: you took a long lunch, came back and bought a snack from the snack machine as soon as you said hello, couldn't stop smiling and were all rumpled. Were you I, what conclusion would you jump to?"

"If I were on your side of things, there would be no conclusion jumping."

Lois scoffed. "Well that's a lie if I've ever heard one." She looked down and smiled at Tia. "Can you believe that your aunt Chloe would lie straight to our faces like that? Ever since she met Ethan, I just don't know what's happened to her."

"For the last time: I couldn't stop smiling because I was happy that Ethan had asked me to move in with him and I had said yes. I was hungry because all I had to eat at lunch was a salad because Ethan was showing me where he thought my stuff could go in the new apartment and we didn't have a lot of time, even with the long lunch. Better a fast food salad than a burger. And finally, he bought a new car, a convertible, and that led to my rumpled appearance."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine, I believe you. I can't believe that he's getting a new apartment right after buying a new car, but I guess being made a partner at a law firm affords him plenty of money. Congratulations on the moving in together, by the way."

"Thank you," Chloe said. "I think this is a good move. It's only been eight months, but it feels like a natural next step."

"By moving in, I guess you see this as a potential long term relationship."

"I do. I love him, Lo."

"Good, I'm glad." Lois looked away, and Chloe was about to ask what was wrong when Lois beat her to the punch. "I have to ask you something, Chloe. It's in the vein of you and Ethan being serious."

That sounded ominous. What would she want to ask about that her tone would sound like that? "Ok then. Ask away."

"Ethan is a part of your life now. He's a great guy; fun to be around, fun to talk to and even great with Tia. He spends a lot of time with us, and with you two living together that time together will probably be increased. Increased time with us means more time to observe weird things that happen in this family."

Chloe frowned a bit, trying to see where Lois was going with this. "Well, yeah, but... where are you going with this?"

Lois exhaled slowly, and Chloe watched her run a hand across Tia's back for a second before moving her eyes back to her cousin's face. "I don't know if Clark would ever bring this up, so I'm going to: if you two make it all the way to the altar, or even are just living together a long time without the church bells, are you going to want to tell Ethan about Clark?"

Chloe leaned back a little, surprised at what Lois had asked. "I, uh, hadn't ever thought about that."

"I figured you hadn't," Lois said. She lifted Tia and placed her in Chloe's lap. Chloe smiled down at the dark haired child and saw Lois get up out of the corner of her eye. "I don't know that Clark has either, but it popped into my mind recently and I can't get it out. I'm not trying to make you make a decision now, but I just want you to think about it. It's a huge thing, Chlo, and if you want to tell him he has to be in for life."

"Well I know that, Lois. It's pretty much THE secret in our world. It's THE secret in the entire world, probably, besides the identities of other heroes."

"Exactly, and like I said I don't want a decision. Just keep it in mind, please. I love you, and I love that you're so happy with Ethan, but if he becomes a close knit part of the family, he's going to get suspicious of why Clark runs off all the time, or isn't around for long stretches." Lois walked over, a glass of water in hand and stood next to the couch. "I don't want you to have to lie to him forever. Hell, I wish you didn't have to lie to him at all."

Chloe nodded. "That makes two of us. God, it's so second nature to me that I never even thought about it." Holding Tia close, she stood up. "What does that say about me, that I never even thought about the fact that I was lying to my boyfriend, soon to be live in boyfriend, and never gave it a second thought, even when considering a future with him?"

"It means you're fallible, Chloe, just like the rest of us. When Clark and I first got together I had no idea he was Superman, and I didn't know for three months. You remember those few weeks that he and I were on the outs? That was the result of him telling me that he'd been lying to me for a while. Of course, we both lied to you about our relationship, then." Chloe saw Lois roll her eyes and sigh. "We're going to be great examples for Tia."

"Eh, it all evens out. You lie about things, but you also help bring justice to the world, making it a better and safer place for this one," Chloe said as she bounced Tia a couple times.

"Let's hope so."

A lull in the conversation fell into place, leaving Chloe to ponder what had been brought up. Would she ever be able to tell Ethan the truth? She thought that they could go all the way, but what if something happened? If they broke up someday, not that she thought they would, would Ethan become spiteful and use the information against her? Great, now she was thinking negatively. She did her best to not be that way anymore, but here she was, thinking about what would happen if she told Ethan and then they broke up. Stupid necessary thoughts!

The freedom to think about anything finally got to her, so she broke the silence. "So, the pizza place on 3rd for dinner?"

Flying inside the apartment, Clark found himself confronted by an odd scene. In one corner of the couch was Chloe, staring off into space as Tia napped against her. That was going to make for a long night. In the other corner was Lois, appearing to be reading a book. He knew that she was barely paying attention to what was in front of her, though, because her eyes never moved. She was just staring a hole into one spot of the book.

Neither even bothered to look up as his trailing wind pushed through the apartment, fluttering each one's hair.

What in the world had happened? When he'd left to help people, they'd been chatting amicably, as they always did. That had seemed to be their default state of being when around each other, at least through his observations. He'd needed to go, and Chloe had told him that they'd figure out dinner by the time he got back. That appeared to have been put on the back burner. If things continued, he and Tia might be fending for themselves.

Clearing his throat, Clark quickly changed into his regular clothes, putting on his glasses to finish things off. "So, I miss anything?" Each looked up at him, finally taking notice that he'd gotten back.

"Smallville, hiཀ How'd it go?"

"It went fine," Clark said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are you two being strangely silent?"

The cousins looked at each other, then back to him and shrugged in time. Chloe made the first move to either explain or evade. "Aren't two cousins allowed to enjoy a companionable silence?"

"Other cousins, maybe, but you two? I can't remember the last companionable silence you two had. Silence is not something either of you is fond of, yet here you were, being silent. One of you was faking reading, the other just staring off into space. That's just all kinds of strange."

Lois stood up, grabbing the glass in front of her and walking into the kitchen. "We just didn't really have anything to say, Smallville. No big deal. That does happen, even to the two of us, so let's drop it. Now, we decided on going to the pizza place on 3rd for dinner since we didn't get to go for lunch. How about you take Tia and get her dressed so we can go in a few minutes?"

Clark saw on her face that arguing the point would do little good, and if it wouldn't do much good with her, it would do just as little with Chloe. "Yeah, ok." Taking a few steps over to Chloe, he gathered his sleeping daughter up into his arms and drew little circles over her back as he walked into her room. She started stirring as he laid her down, making a sour face that Clark couldn't help but smile at. As she woke up, he went about gathering all her things together.

After taking a sip of water and watching Clark walk into Tia's room, Lois made her way back to the couch and sat down. "Are we all right, Chlo? I didn't mean to ruin what has to be a great day for you, deciding to move in with Ethan."

"No, I know you didn't mean anything by the timing, Lois. I just feel really dumb for not having given the subject some thought without you prompting me. It's a situation in life that will always be there; I either have to decide to lie to Ethan for the remainder of our time together, or I have to tell him the truth, with Clark's blessing, of course."

"He'll give it to you, Chloe. If you trust Ethan, you know that's good enough for Clark."

"That's the crux of the situation, though. I love Ethan, but do I trust him enough to tell him the biggest secret in our lives? My heart says of course I trust him, that telling him is the smart thing to do. But my brain," Chloe said as she tapped her head with her knuckles, "my brain keeps putting up roadblocks and saying 'It's too big. You love him but he's just a regular guy. How could he possibly handle this?'"

Lois watched as Chloe ran a hand back through her hair before leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "He's not like us, Lois. He didn't grow up in a town where people gone insane from meteor infection tried to kill us two or three times a week. He's just a regular guy that grew up in the suburbs and hopes to have a family of his own out there someday. There wasn't any parental death for him that defined his life; both his parents are alive and healthy, and just fun to be around.

"Is there such a thing as too normal for our lives? Have I found somebody that's too safe for me, that's too safe for this kind of life? We constantly and consistently, almost redundantly, throw ourselves into situations that normal people wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Is it fair for me to drag him into that? He doesn't know how dangerous my life is; I've barely given him a glimpse of that part of it because I don't want to ruin his untainted, almost naive vision of the world."

Chloe stood up, pacing around the living room. "I love him so much, Lo. I didn't know what I was going to do when the realization that Clark would never see me like I had wanted. I didn't think I'd actually ever get past him. But he was just so damn sneaky in how he got past my defenses that I fell in love before I figured out I was in love. It was disorienting, to say the least, that I realized I'd loved him for weeks before the message actually got from my heart to my head.

"What's my love going to do to him, though? Show him the seedy part of the world we have to deal with so often? Ruin his vision of the city he grew up loving? I love him too much to do that to him, Lois. I can't be the person that he sees himself spending his life with; all he wants in a partner is somebody easy going that he can love. I can put on the facade for a while, but eventually the truth is going to come out, forcing him to reevaluate his life with me."

God, what had she done? Lois had just _had_ to open her big mouth, and in doing so she might have inadvertently sabotaged a great relationship for Chloe. She needed to put a stop to what she'd caused. Placing her glass on the coffee table, she stood and walked over to Chloe, taking her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes.

"Do you know what's important, Chloe? Love. Cheesy, goofy, difficult, idealistic or whatever it may be, and you know it can be all of the above, it's what really matters, what it all comes down to. If you love him, that's how you know that you trust him. I was stupid to bring this up now, if not stupid to bring it up at all. You'll know what's right, and whatever you decide I'll trust you, as will Clark. And no, you won't ruin his idealized view of Metropolis; if my inherent cynicism can't ruin Smallville, the most naive see the best in people person that ever lived, then you two are going to be fine. You're at least twelve percent less cynical than I am."

Chloe smiled tremulously, but it was a start. "I'd say the difference is seven percent at most, probably closer to three or four these days."

"Be that as it may, you have something special, Chloe. You know that. Don't let your doubts make you throw it away. Don't let my words make you throw it away. Hold on to it with all that strength I know you have. If you have love, then everything else is going to work itself out. God, I've been turned into a 'Love Will Conquer Allཀ' cliché, but I really believe it. It's how I've lived my life with Clark."

After a second, Chloe straightened herself out, squaring her shoulders. "If love conquers all, then I'm sick of not believing in what I have. I love Ethan, and I'm going to make my life with him work."

Holding up one end of a couch, Clark lowered his end down as Lois did the same with hers, and made a show of rubbing at his hands as if carrying the couch had been a tough task. "Just have to live on the sixth floor, don't you Ethan?"

The tall, dark haired guy smiled at him at shrugged. "Gotta take what you can get. I know it's somewhat of a bear for moving, but that's why we're paying for dinner."

Clark sat down on the couch he'd just helped to move next to Lois, who actually had been forced to carry a little of the weight. Somehow the couch had been the last thing to get moved, when being one of the bigger items should have made it one of the first. Poor planning on their part when they had packed Chloe's things into the moving truck. "That's not really necessary, Ethan. Plus, our offer to buy dinner as an apartment-warming gift still stands."

"We appreciate that, Clark," Chloe said from behind him, "but I think the ridiculous expensive espresso machine is enough. It's an amazing gift, by the way, and let me add another thank you."

"You're welcome, cuz, but don't think I'm not being selfish. As much time as we spend together, I plan on using the thing nearly as much as you do."

"There's always something," Chloe said as she walked into Clark's line of sight. Smiling, she sat in a chair next to Ethan's and reached into a box, pulling out a couple of plates wrapped in newspaper and started to unwrap them. "As far as 'somethings' go, though, I figure that you being over here and drinking coffee is a fairly acceptable one. It's nice, too, living closer to your place than I used to. Is it possible that we could actually spend _more_ time together?"

"I don't know if that's a scary though or a great one."

"I'm going to go with great. I doubt that we could possibly ever spend too much time together."

"I bet all your time for the foreseeable future is going to be spent with your new live in honey, Chlo, so we may not see each other as much for the next few weeks."

"My new live in _honey_?"

Rolling his eyes, Clark got up and nodded to Ethan towards the kitchen. He walked into the room, waiting a second for Ethan to join him before reaching into a cooler and pulling out a beer. Handing it to his counterpart in the world of Lois and Chloe, he grabbed one for himself; he didn't drink often, but this seemed like an occasion when it would be appropriate. After they'd opened them up, he held his up. "Welcome to the world of Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane."

Looking a little confused, Ethan tapped his bottle against Clark's and took a sip, an action Clark mimed. "We've been together eight months and I'm just now getting the welcome?"

Clark took a second to try and figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say so that it sounded less crazy than it actually was. "It's not a time thing so much as a timing thing. You and Chloe moving in together pretty much means you're in. Their little world is truly now open to you, which is something about eight people in the world can say, so welcome, and don't forget to duck when the razor wit is flying back and forth. It cuts very quickly."

"You make this sound huge and daunting."

"I'll give you huge, but daunting... well, maybe for a little while. It's a bit overwhelming to watch the two of them really get into one of their conversations. I've been with them for a _long_ time and I still get lost trying to follow one topic to the next. The transitions from one topic to another rarely make any sense to anybody but them, and sometimes Lois' sister Lucy."

Clark took a drink from his beer, watching Ethan frown over the top of his bottle. "You're not really describing anything all that atypical of women I know and have known, Clark."

For a writer, he felt that he was having a difficult time explaining the difference. Shrugging, Clark took one last swig of his beer, dropping the empty bottle into a recycling bin and smiling. "Just give it a little time. Oh, and for your own health please never call either of the women in the other room or their actions typical. That is a very easy way to get maimed by two dangerous women. Seriously, I've seen them both break out various forms of martial arts for less."

Ethan's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

Looking at the door to the kitchen, Lois slouched back into the cushions of the couch. "What do you think Smallville's telling him?"

"I'm not sure. Being the nice guy that he is, he's probably saying congratulations one last time."

"I don't know... I bet he's warning him. Not about hurting you or anything stupid like that, because you can handle yourself, but about us. More specifically, about the world of Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane that he thinks we live in."

Chloe smiled, folding her legs up underneath her body. "That isn't exactly all that far from the truth. I mean... well, I mean that I don't agree with him 100 but I also don't disagree with him. I hate it when I can't just take a side."

"I know what you're saying, but I don't think we live in our own little world as much as he thinks we do."

"You two jump into situations that I bet would make Superman flinch and don't even think you're getting in over your heads." Looking back at the door to the kitchen, she saw Clark emerging along with Ethan. "Not only that, but you both have this weird habit of just ignoring small little facts that don't suit you."

He turned to Ethan as they sat down. "For example, Lois and I were doing an article earlier this week and I pointed something out to her that she really didn't want to hear. She totally ignored it and wrote the article how she wanted to. Perry, of course, accepted her version even after I pointed out this little omission because he's also a resident in the world of Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane."

"It wasn't important, Smallville."

"It changed the whole tone of the article, Lois. It was supposed to be about-"

"I know," Lois said, cutting him off. "Let's just skip the tone discussion for the 34th time. I win, you lose. I'm the top banana, you're... we'll, you're the top banana's husband. There are numerous dirty jokes to be made here, but I'll forebear so that I don't dirty up the clean new apartment."

"Banana jokes. Classic, cuz."

"I like to think so."

Lois saw Clark turn to face Ethan. "See what I mean? From an article to inappropriate banana jokes in the blink of an eye."


	20. Chapter 20

-- Chapter 20

Peeking around the corner, Lois spotted some movement and ducked back, cringing with trepidation that she'd been discovered. When there wasn't a voice asking her what she was doing Lois peeked around the corner again, only to come face to face with Chloe. The surprise of it caused her to jump a bit and she swallowed her heart back into her chest from its position in her throat.

"What are you doing, Lois?"

All of a sudden Lois felt like she was a little girl about to be caught doing something she wasn't supposed to do. Technically, she _was_ attempting to do something that she wasn't supposed to do, so the scolding her cousin looked like she wanted to give wasn't totally unwarranted. Smiling, she shoved her hands in her pockets. "Nothing, really. Just, uh..."

Chloe raised an eyebrow and interrupted. "Just, uh... trying to escape?"

"Me? No, I would never do that," Lois said, waving her hands to help feign innocence. "I knew what I was getting into when I told you I'd go along with this horrible, _horrible_ idea of yours."

"It's not like I forced you to do this, Lo. You volunteered, remember? Something about solidarity and making sure that I didn't have any moments of weakness? Had I known what this experience was going to be like, though, I would have turned down your offer. Climbing up the walls hardly does you justice tonight."

"It's been six weeksཀ" Lois cried out pitifully. "It's not like I haven't gone six weeks without it before, but the last time I had a very time consuming distraction being all tiny, new and wiggly and before that I didn't have Clark. I thought 'Six weeks? No problemཀ' and I was totally wrong. I don't know if I'm addicted or just a sex junkie, but may I please go home and have sex with my husband?"

Following Chloe back into the living room, Lois folded into a heap on the couch as her cousin sat down in a chair off to her left. "Tomorrow, Lo. My wedding is tomorrow, and with it the six weeks of abstention ends. One more night and the ceremony are all you have left. Once the reception starts, you guys can sneak off and have all the sex you want."

"I know, I know," Lois mumbled as she rubbed at the corner of her eye. "I don't think tonight would have been as much of a problem if I hadn't hired that stripper. It wasn't even watching him that made it so bad; it just put the idea of sex into my head, and that naturally migrated to sex with Clark. I've been able to keep those thoughts at bay for the most part, but damn did they hit me in full force tonight."

"No kidding." Chloe yawned and stretched, settling back into her chair after a second.

"I know you aren't nervous, but what are you thinking going into the big event?"

"I'm thinking how in the world did I end up here, so happy, after how I've lived almost my entire adult life."

Moving her body so that she was lying on the couch instead of just slumping into it, Lois let her eyes slide shut. "Care to go into details?"

"I pined for Clark. That's hardly a secret, and I won't lie about it. It's been something of an uncomfortable topic for all of us since everything came to a head back in Star City, but that was more or less to be expected. I pined for Clark Kent, as much as he pined for Lana. It's a disturbing thought, to know that I allowed myself to get into that situation, a situation I told myself I'd never endure after hearing and seeing his version of it."

"What does it say about me that people in my life seem obsessed with things they can't have and I just ignore it because I don't want to deal with it? God, now I'm worried about Tia being the same way."

Lois couldn't tell if Chloe had paid any attention to what she'd said because she didn't seem to break her train of thought. "It's so easy to fall into that situation, though. You see something you want, but you're afraid to go and get it. You're afraid that there's going to be something wrong with you, that you won't be good enough and will lose what you've wanted. So you just sit and wait instead."

"My daughter not being a go getter. What a horrifying thought."

"It just starts off as a waiting game. If you're patient, what you want will happen with time. But then that fear I was talking about kicks in and it turns into the long waiting game instead of being something you want and think you can have. Plus, it gets so built up in your head that reality could never measure up to the fantasy. In fantasy, love is more or less effortless. In reality, it does take work, even for a couple like you two. Each relationship has its hurdles, both of ours included. Getting past those makes the relationship worth it, because it proves that you belong with that person."

"Tia is so much like Clark; I wonder if our son will be the same way."

"In the end, reality always eclipses the... wait, what? You're having a son?"

Lois waved a hand at Chloe, realizing what she'd said and what Chloe was assuming. "Theoretical son."

"You sure about that? Sounded like you were speaking as if you were already growing him."

"I'm sure. We'd decided to start trying a couple weeks into this sabbatical from sex, which is also when I tossed my pills. Considering all the sex not being had, Clark will have needed to have found a new way to be super for me to be carrying. What it really came down to was now that Tia's nearly three we think she'll be able to handle a sibling pretty well. I'm hoping for a boy so we'll have one of each. Obviously I won't be disappointed either way, but one of each makes a nice family of four."

"You guys going to get a house?"

"Clark would like for Tia and any future siblings of hers to have a yard to play in sooner rather than later, so I'm thinking so."

"Huh." Lois opened one eye and looked over at Chloe. "Lois Lane in suburbia. Never thought I'd see the day."

Smiling, Lois let her eye fall closed again. "That's Lois Lane Kent to you, cuz. The Kent part makes being a suburbanite much more acceptable."

"Scotch and soda, please."

Turning from the bartender, Clark surveyed the room, watching Lois and Chloe dance to a song that he didn't recognize. As much as he loved his wife, he would never understand some of her musical preferences. This particular song wasn't too bad, in the grand scheme of things, but it still wasn't far removed from noise in his book.

Taking the drink from the bartender, Clark popped a dollar bill down in the tip jar and headed back into the fracas that was passing for a dance floor. Understanding modern dance, along with understanding modern art, music and a few other things, still eluded him, but damn could it be fun to watch Lois do it. The hip shaking alone was enough to have to make him blink back an attack of involuntary heat vision. He loved the hip shaking, and the bridesmaid dress that Chloe had allowed her to pick did nothing to hide any and all curves. Yay curves.

Getting to Lois, he found Chloe had moved off a bit to stand next to her new husband and converse with some people since he'd started making his way to them. As the song ended, Lois spun to face him, taking the drink and sipping from it. "What'd I miss, Lo?"

"You missed a great dance, Smallvilleཀ"

Grinning, he pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "I saw most of it, which I have to say beats trying to be a part of it. No matter how many talents I have, dancing will never be one of them." Pulling his glasses down, Clark turned on his x-ray vision and couldn't help but smile a little wider. "I think other things I can do make up for that, though."

She raised an eyebrow, managing to smirk around her drink as she drained it and handed him the glass. She then proceeded to whack him on the chest with the back of her hand. "You said you wouldn't do that for the six weeks."

"And I didn't." Well, he hadn't done it much. "But considering the wedding is done and we're in the hotel where we have a room that will see nobody sleep tonight, barring an emergency of some sort I need to attend to, the six weeks is done and I'm taking full advantage. Have I told you recently that I love that little mole right there on your..."

"Hey, whoa, let's keep that bit of info to ourselvesཀ" She whispered, stepping closer to him. A new song started up, a slower one than the last, and she took the glass from him, putting it down on the nearest table before coming back and wrapping herself in his arms and started to move in rhythm with the song. "Are you drunk or something?" she asked against his chest. "That I have a mole _there_ is one of the few things I feel doesn't fall into the public's right to know."

"I'm not drunk, Lo. More like a starving man that sees an amazing meal right in front of him that he can't have. It's a little bit maddening, ya know?"

She scoffed. "I know very well. Chloe said that climbing up the walls barely did my state of mind justice last night, which was because I couldn't get the thought of you and me out of my head. Jesus, even after a bit of self service I still felt antsy."

"Oh, that's just mean."

"What?"

"Self service? Do you know all the visuals that put into my head?"

"I'd say the fact that I'm getting poked in the stomach right now is a pretty good indicator that even if I only put one there, it must've been good."

Clark exhaled slowly. "A _really_ good one I can't do anything about at the moment. Have we been here long enough to leave and go take advantage of that room? I love Chloe, but I think she understands we wish her well and are glad she's happy."

"We should probably wait for the bride and groom to leave before we do. Fortunately it's been six weeks for them as well, so I bet that we'll get to use that room sooner rather than later."

"Good," Clark said, hugging Lois a little closer. "Do you know how annoying and embarrassing it would be if I got called away right now? While we no longer have to make excuses to Ethan about me running off, it would just be bad timing. Also, with the potential visual people would be thinking about Superman in a VERY different light tomorrow."

"Now _that's _a visual."

"It's a visual I don't want people that aren't you having." The song ended and Lois stepped away, leaving Clark to shove his hands into his pockets and do a bit of adjusting. "There any way we can get Chloe and Ethan on their way a little faster? I hear the power of suggestion is very... powerful." Well, that hadn't been well thought out. He rolled his eyes as Lois predictably laughed.

"The power of suggestion is very _powerful_? What an intriguing bit of insight."

"You don't believe me? Two words." Clark raised two fingers. "Two words are all I need to not only prove my point, but send you running to Chloe and telling her we'll be back in half an hour or that we'll see her after her honeymoon if you so choose."

"You're kidding, right? Am I Pavlov's dog or something? You ring a bell and I start salivating, or in this case you say two words and I get unbelievably horny? That makes it sound like you had me hypnotized or something."

Clark shook his head. "I found this purely by accident. It's not like it'll work at any given time or something. No suggestions have been placed in your subconscious, at least not that I know of. No, you know what I'm talking about, and you'll remember it as you melt into a puddle."

"Now you're just being ridiculous, Clark. Seriously, this is just you spouting nonsense."

Leaning over so that his mouth was next to her ear, Clark whispered. "Sioux City." Pulling back, Clark saw her eyes narrow a second before recognition of the meaning those two words held dawned on her.

"Oh that's... I mean..." He saw her swallow, everything those two words meant washing over her. She took his hand and started leading him towards a side door. "Yeah, ok, let's go."

"You don't want to say bye to Chloe?"

"Like you said, Smallville, we're only going to be gone, what? Twenty minutes? Two minutes to get to our room, fifteen to take the edge of the last six weeks off because that's all the longer either of us will last, and then we'll come right back down. Chloe'll never suspect."

"You are _so_ busted!"

Looking over to her left, Lois spotted Chloe walking over to them as they made their way back into the room where the reception was being held. Looking over at Clark, she gave him a look that said 'Be cool', then turned and smiled at her cousin. "How can we be busted, Chlo? We're innocent of any and all things."

"Well that's a lie, especially considering you two went off and had sex."

"We did no such thingཀ" _God, _had the sex been good. They hadn't even bothered getting undressed or making it to the bed. Fortunately she now knew that the hotel had very sturdy walls. "We went out for some fresh air. It's a perfect night outside, if you hadn't noticed."

"Yes, and I imagine that during your walk out in the peace of the night it's very easy for one to rip her dress." Chloe reached over and pulled on the shoulder of her dress, which Lois now noticed had a rip.

Rolling her eyes, she gave up the poorly executed charade. "Fine, yes, I had sex with my husband. But it's not my fault! He has magic words!"

Chloe looked mystified, and Lois couldn't really blame her. "Magic words? This is your defense for sneaking off and having sex before the bride and groom leave?"

"Well he does," Lois said, sighing. She saw Chloe turn to Clark.

"So what's your excuse?"

"Hey, I never agreed to this six week thing, Lois did. I went along with it because you're my best friend, though you're lucky I lasted as long as I did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get something to drink and see if I can't escape a bit of your faux-wrath. Either of you want anything?"

Lois shook her head and heard Chloe say no. She watched Clark walk away out of the corner of her eye for a second before turning to Chloe. "So, did I miss anything?"

"Nothing important. You didn't really need to come back, you know. Things are beginning to wind down a little and I think Ethan and I are going to get out of here soon."

Lois grinned lasciviously. "Going to go consecrate the marriage.?"

"Yeah, that happened in the women's bathroom about an hour ago. Kinda why I couldn't stop smiling for about twenty minutes."

"I thought that was because you were happy to be married!"

"That certainly played a part too. Why I'm smiling now, actually."

Lois smiled, wrapping Chloe in a quick hug. "I'm happy for you, Chloe. Beyond happy. You're getting everything you deserve."

"Thank you, Lois, and I agree. And may I add in my greediest tone, it's _about damn time_."

"Dallas? No!"

"No? You can't say no to me moving, Lois."

"Is that right? Seems I have an ace in the hole, which is the fact that my husband can prevent you from having to follow your husband to a place too far away."

Rolling her eyes and running a hand back through her hair, Chloe tapped her fingers on her desk and proceeded to glare at her cousin. "Look, I know it's not the greatest thing in the world, but it isn't like we've never been separated before. Hell, your dad pulled you all over the globe for years on end while I was here in Metropolis and in Smallville. And back then it took you a lot longer to travel. Now with your ability to travel in a very express manner, Dallas is what, twenty minutes from Metropolis? It's not like it's a long commercial flight either."

"But, but... you belong here! The Daily Planet is your dream. Why would you do something silly like leaving your dream? It's just wrong, Chloe."

"I've lived my dream, Lo. That's more than most people get to say. I've worked at the Daily Planet, and while I never quite became the best reporter it had ever seen, though I think you and I are 1A and 1B, I'm not as disappointed to leave as you might think. I love being here with you, Clark, Perry and Jimmy, but Ethan can't pass up this opportunity to help start a new branch of his firm. It's not a forever thing; more like five years, tops."

"FIVE YEARS?" Lois yelled, causing Chloe to smile at everybody in the bullpen.

"Sorry guys. You know how she is with news she doesn't like." Everybody nodded and went back to business, allowing Chloe to get back to the task at hand. "Look, Lo, we'll still see each other. We'll still be close. It's not like we can't talk face to face over the internet, and with your lack of travel costs you could come to Dallas every other weekend or so. We'll be more like normal cousins now, sure, but I think we can stay just as close."

"I don't like normal," Lois mumbled as she leaned back into her chair.

"So I've heard."

"When do you leave?"

"Three weeks."

"Three weeks!"

Turning back to her desk Chloe shook her head, unable to pass on the chance to get in a bit of sarcasm. "I see you've now mastered the art of repeating things I say. Congratulations, you now have the verbal skills of a parrot."

"Yeah, well, this parrot is going to... to do something heartwarming and heart wrenching that alternately sends you off lovingly and makes you wish you didn't have to leave."

"This is what we're doing?" Looking at the STAR Labs building in front of them as the cab drove away, Chloe looked over at her cousin. "A story? On _time travel_? This is neither heartwarming nor heart wrenching."

"This is our final story together, Chlo. I got Perry to let me team with you instead of Clark on this one, making it our last chance to show the world the best team it's ever seen."

"What about Lane and Kent, the team that the company actually uses to sell papers?"

"You and I as a team had a lot harder time of things than Clark and I have. We had nothing but our own cunning and awesomeness to get us out of tight situations. Clark is a veritable smorgasbord of ways to get out of tight situations, though admittedly some of the situations he and I get into are tighter than the ones you and I got into."

"Tighter than the Tank Fiasco of '13?"

Lois nodded. "Hard to believe, but yeah." After a moment of silence she clapped, catching Chloe off guard. "All right, let's get this show on the road. No time like the present to go see a mad scientist that thinks he can travel through time."

"Oh goody," Chloe drawled, following Lois as she started off towards the building.

Walking through the entrance to STAR Labs, they walked up to the front desk, getting clearance from the guard to go into the rest of the building. Chloe'd only had a little time to think about the fact that they were going to see a man about time travel, but it seem far fetched, even for all the things that happened in Metropolis these days.. Sure, they lived in a city with a super hero alien that happened to be one of her best friends, but that didn't mean there weren't limits as to what could happen. Probably.

As she walked through the hallway, both hers and Lois's heels clicking against the floor, she glanced around at the walls. Not much adorned them, aside from an occasional picture of a scientist. Running a hand through her hair as she walked into the elevator, Chloe turned as the doors closed and watched as floors flew by until they got where they were going. Walking out, they quickly found the lab that they were looking for and knocked on the door a couple times before walking in.

"Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Mrs. Kentཀ Mr. Kentཀ So glad you could..." The voice trailed off as a head popped out from around a corner, the body attached to it following a second later. "I'm sorry, I guess Mr. White chose not to send Mr. Kent."

"That's my fault, Dr. Jayne. This is my cousin and fellow Daily Planet reporter, Chloe Myers. She's leaving Metropolis for Dallas in a few days, so I thought it would be nice to do one last story together before she goes. I hope you aren't too disappointed."

"As long as there are people for me to show my work to, I'm more than pleased, Mrs. Kent. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Myers. Please, follow me."

He started walking deeper into the lab, grabbing something off one of the tables and inspecting it for a second before tossing it back where it had been and resuming his trek. Lois looked over at her as they walked. "Every time somebody calls me Mrs. Kent I fight the urge to look around for Martha."

"You don't get it a lot though, do you?"

"Occasionally. Just depends on the person, really, since I didn't get rid of Lane and added Kent on the end. Sometimes I get Ms. Lane, sometimes Mrs. Lane, rarely I get Mrs. Lane-Kent and then I get the occasional Mrs. Kent. I respond to all, which I think is very nice of me considering how many versions of my last name people come up with."

Chloe slid over a bit to avoid running into a table as they talked. "See, that's why I just went with being Chloe Myers. Many fewer last name variations."

"Well, here it is!"

Chloe looked up to find Dr. Jayne pointing at two large metal pillars. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her recorder, seeing Lois was doing the same, and turned it on. "Dr. Jayne, how does your time travel device work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?" Chloe shook her head and saw Lois doing the same. "All right, that's fine." Grabbing something round off the desk he held it up. "Imagine this is an apple. Now, imagine there's a worm on this side of it," he said, pointing to the left side. "Now, to get from one side of the other a worm has two options: go around or go through. Going around takes much longer than going through because you have to travel much further than you would if going in a straight line through. A wormhole in space is the same. Instead of going the long way, you're boring through space time and cutting out most of the journey."

"That sounds... complicated," Lois said.

"Very. I didn't know that I'd ever be able to do it, especially with the power requirements. I could drain the city and state of all its power and power reserves and still not have enough."

"Then how do you power it."

"Dark energy." Apparently neither of them looked like they knew what that was, because he started into another explanation. "Dark energy is the energy that powers the expansion of the universe. You can imagine how much power that takes, and using it to power the wormhole generator isn't even a drop in the bucket."

"Well, something as powerful as that... I mean, if you got it to work for your device, is there any chance that it could be used to power other things, such as cities?"

The doctor took a second before nodding. "Yes, I guess it could, though I don't think I'd be the best for developing that. There are others more suited to take my work and apply it to that sort of endeavor."

Chloe looked over at her cousin. "Looks like we get two stories for the price of one."

"No kidding. So, how about we see this thing in action, Dr. Jayne?"

"Of course. Down to business and all that."

Yawning, Lois blinked a few times and shook herself so that she didn't fall asleep. Tia having a nightmare and not wanting to sleep the rest of the night always made the next day much more interesting. Of course, interesting in that context meant long. Funny how nights without sleep always made the day seem twice as long. She heard Chloe say something, but didn't catch it. "Sorry, what?"

"What has you so tired?"

"Tia had a nightmare and didn't want to sleep anymore, so she woke me up for company. Since Clark was out and couldn't stay up with her for a few hours while those of us that actually need sleep got some I ended up with about two hours, little of which took place in large chunks."

"She wouldn't go back to sleep?"

Lois shook her head. "My daughter has the stubborn streak of her mother and appears to have inherited some of Clark's ability to need little to no sleep over the course of days. When I left to go to work, she was playing with Clark like she'd had a good night's sleep. I don't know if she conked out on Martha when Clark dropped her off at the farm, but I imagine if she didn't she'll be out like a light tonight. Hopefully. Or if she is awake, hopefully this'll be one of those somewhat rare nights where Clark never gets called away."

"Tough being married to a man that has a higher calling, isn't it?"

"It is." Deciding to table that subject until a time when there wasn't somebody that didn't know Clark's secret around, Lois pointed over at the doctor with her chin. "Did you think that it was going to take an hour to fire this thing up?"

"No, definitely not. When one thinks about time travel, one generally thinks of it as being a less than time consuming thing. Odd how that happens."

"Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Myers," the doctor said as he walked up to them, "what year would you like the device set to?"

Chloe looked over at her. "Past or future?"

"How about both? We go to the past, look around, come back here and then go to the future."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Now, when in the past?"

"Let's make a round number like... thirty-five years ago."

The doctor nodded. "1982 it is." He walked over to the machine, and a minute later there was a loud crack. Lois pulled out her sunglasses as a bright light started filling the room.

"Do you think this is safe, Lois?"

"I've traveled to the past three times, Mrs. Myers, so I believe it is."

"You've time traveled?" Lois asked.

"I was the only test subject that I trusted." He pulled a backpack out and handed it to her. "This is the same device as what you see in front of you, just streamlined. The big one I built first, and I figured it would be best for showing. The device in the backpack is fitted with a chronometer that will bring you back three seconds after the second you go to the past. Also, in the back pocket is some money from then, just in case. It should be enough for a meal or two if you decide to explore a bit. I found it came in handy."

"Sounds good." Lois put the backpack on and smiled at her cousin. "Ready to go?"

"Always. I'll go first and see what everything looks like, make sure we don't land at a place where Tia can lose her mother by stepping through a door. See you in a minute."

With a few steps, Chloe jumped into the wormhole, leaving Lois to follow. After a quick nod to the doctor, Lois took a deep breath and jumped into the light.

Landing and stumbling a bit, Lois caught herself before falling down and found herself in an empty lab, Chloe nowhere to be found. Pocketing her sunglasses, Lois made her way to the lab door and walked out, making her way through the much more sparely populated STAR Labs building.

Getting outside, she spotted Chloe walking towards a bus stop and jogged after her, catching up as she pulled a newspaper from a machine. She broke out into a smile as Lois reached her. "He did it. We're actually in 1982."

Taking the paper, Lois looked over the front page for a second before shaking her head. "This is unbelievable, even by the standards of our lives."

"It really is, but then unbelievable keeps getting more and more believable as time goes by. Come on, let's go downtown and see how different it looks."

An hour later, after finally finding a taxi and getting a ride downtown, they were walking the streets of the town they both knew so well in the future. The ride had exhausted about half their funds, but it beat walking all the way into downtown. "So, Chloe, where would you like to go and have some lunch?"

"Well how about-"

Chloe was cut off as she ran into a man, bumping him off the curb. They both fell over, Lois catching Chloe by the arm before she hit the ground. The man, however, didn't appear so lucky. After helping Chloe to her feet, Lois knelt down by him as he massaged his ankle. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, standing up and gingerly putting weight on the ankle he'd been massaging. "Bruised ego and sore ankle aside, anyway. Sorry about bumping into you. I was rushing and wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's, uh, that's ok. Hope your ankle's all right."

He nodded and started walking again, leaving them to start on their way.

"Oh god."

Lois looked over at Chloe. "What?"

"That was my dadཀ"

"What? No way. Uncle Gabe never had hair down to his shoulders."

"I know what my own father looks like, Lois, and I'm telling you that was himཀ"

Thinking about it for a second, Lois looked back and tried to see if he was still in view, but found he wasn't. "You'd think that I'd have recognized him. I wonder where he was rushing off to in such a hurry."

"It had to be that he was trying to stop my mom from leaving for a long trip."

"Really?"

"You don't remember him telling that story? He said that a couple months into their relationship mom was going to spend four months in Europe, and he had to rush to her apartment and try to talk her into staying and keeping the relationship alive. She didn't want to do long distance, so he convinced her to-"

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Still sounds like deja vu to me, Lois."

"Clark, I swear that sometimes you disagree with me just to be disagreeable."

"That sounds a whole lot more like something Mad Dog Lane would do than mild mannered reporter Clark Kent."

Rolling her eyes, Lois exhaled loudly and frowned at her partner. "Mild mannered reporter? Who in the world has ever called you that?"

"Well, nobody that I know of, but..."

"No, no buts. You can't just go and call yourself mild mannered when I know that it's just a cover."

Clark swallowed visibly. "A cover? I, uh... what do you think I'm covering up?"

"I have no idea. But nobody can be as klutzy, goofy and an all around nice guy like you are without having something to hide. It's too much! The bumbling, the always pushing your glasses higher onto your nose when they fall, the unfailing courtesy. _Nobody_ is courteous anymore, not even guys that grew up on a small town farm. It's a dead practice, so it makes me wonder why you do it."

"Courtesy isn't _dead_, Lois. I mean, it may not be the thing to do anymore but that doesn't mean nobody does it."

"Yes, it is, and as such you're covering for something." Lois noticed the time on the clock on her desk. "This conversation is going to have to continue later, though."

"Somewhere to be?"

"No, but my cousins are going to be here at any minute and I don't want them to walk in on us arguing over what you're hiding."

"Lois, what could I possibly be hiding? I'm a what you see is what you get kinda guy."

"We'll see." Just then the elevator started to open, and Lois spotted her cousins walking out of it. Getting up, she smiled and wrapped them both into a hug. "It's been too long, guys."

"I know, Lois, but you know how things go."

"I do. I'm sorry I haven't been able to get out to Miami or New York to visit you guys recently, but what with all the Superman news, it's been something of a race around here to keep up with everything he does."

"It's understandable, Lois, and we wouldn't think of trying to pull you away from one of the biggest stories of all time. Thus, we came to you."

At the sound of a clearing voice behind her, Lois smiled and turned around, leading her cousins over to where Clark was standing by his desk. "Sorry about that. Guys, this is my new partner, Clark Kent. Clark, these are my cousins, Owen and Rachel."


	21. Chapter 21

So, I wanted to apologize for forgetting that this site doesn't seem to support the use of the squiggly line, which I use to break up sections of story. If things seem to randomly jump around the past five or ten chapters, that's why.

-- Chapter 21

"How long have you two been partners?"

"Seems like it's been years," grumbled Lois, causing Clark to mess with his glasses in an attempt not to say the exact same thing. It really did feel like it had been years, mostly because their polar opposite styles of not only writing, but life, seemed to mesh very well when it came to finding the truth of the matter. He knew that it could be difficult to make a partnership work, and according to Perry making one work with Lois was near to impossible.

"It's been about six weeks, Rachel, and apparently it hasn't been a short six weeks," Clark said as he grabbed another slice of pizza from the boxes they'd ordered. Since they were trying to finish an article, they'd had pizza delivered to the Planet. "Would you like another slice of pizza? We still have some of Lois's double bacon left, or feel free to take the last slice of cheese."

"Are you trying to give away my pizza, Smallville? So much for all that courtesy we were talking about."

"What? No, I wouldn't..."

Lois held up a hand and smiled. "It was a joke, Clark. Take it easy, loosen up a bit. You're always wound up way too tightly."

"Yeah, well, I distinctly remember not being wound so tightly until I was partnered with a woman that decided a story with no risk probably wasn't a story worth writing. I know that my blood pressure has jumped since starting with you."

"You're welcome! Before I got hold of you, you were about as dull as an old butter knife! Now, I've got you up to at least a regular butter knife, and maybe a dull steak knife."

"Wow, you two really do act like you've been partnered for years," Owen said. "Considering Lois's history with partners around this place, I think I can speak for not only myself, but my sister as well in saying congratulations, Clark. You're officially in."

"I'm in?" Clark grinned, wiping his hands off on a napkin. "This sounds ominous; are you guys some sort of mafia family or something?"

Rachel snorted. "The way Lois makes friends, I don't think you're all that far off. Of course, we're free to ask about her business, and she's happy to tell us about what we've read in the paper. I think she likes to leave out details though, because half her recent stories seem to jump from you two being trapped in a building to the celebration of putting bad guys behind bars. What, pray tell, is our cousin omitting from the story?"

"Well, it seems that she likes to omit all the times that I've had to get her out of jams."

He heard Lois start coughing and looked over at her as she took a drink of water and seemed to gather herself. "_You_ got _me_ out of jams? Oh you are SO dreaming, Smallville! In your version of things, right after you pull me from these buildings we're trapped in, do I thank you breathlessly before leaning in for a passionate kiss and some groping?"

"No, but that sounds like a very good ending to an investigation. Next time we're trapped somewhere, if that's how you want to play it, by all means do whatever comes naturally."

"Whatever comes..." She trailed off and shuddered in an exaggerated manner, causing her cousins to grin and Clark to shake his head ruefully. "What comes naturally after this little story, Smallville, is me leaving you to get out of these jams you supposedly pull me out of all on your own. You'll get no help from me."

"Fortunately," Clark said, holding up a finger and looking to Owen and Rachel, "your cousin's new best friend is helper to one and all in need. The real story on how we get out of these situations? Ever since Superman showed up, Lois has a tendency to scream his name and see how quickly he can come to help."

"Hey! Lois Lane does not scream!"

"And now it all makes sense," Owen said quietly. "I knew there was more to your so called daring escapes than you were letting on."

"Ok, fine, so maybe I've called for help a few times, but most of the times he shows up I'm well on my way to escaping and he just expedites matters a bit. That's it. I mean, you know, he's Superman. Helping people in distress is his thing, and if he happens to mistake me for someone in distress, then who am I to argue with a free flight home?"

Wiping off his mouth as he finished swallowing a bite of pizza, Clark motioned at Lois with his head to the other two in the room. "And now you can see why the hottest gossip in the city is that Lois Lane, intrepid reporter, and Superman, super hero from another planet, are something of an item. First, a lot of his high profile actions seem to center around saving her and flying with her in his arms. Very romantic looking I'm told. Second, whenever Lois talks about him, she gets that dreamy look on her face that you may have just noticed."

"I do NOT look dreamy when I talk about him!"

"You do, Lo," Rachel said as she smiled.

"Gotta agree with my sister on this one, Lois," Owen said. Clark smiled at her, and had to duck the napkin that was thrown at his face.

"So if Lois is all smitten with Superman, Clark, does that mean there's nothing between you and her?"

Before Clark had any time to even digest what had been said, Lois scoffed loudly. "Me and _Clark_? You've gotta be kidding, Rachel."

"What? He's tall, cute and I bet he's hiding a great physique under that suit. Weren't you the one that used to say she'd take a nerd in glasses over... well, over something. I don't remember what it is, but it probably resembled Superman."

"Yeah, but who could have seen somebody like Superman coming along? Had I known then what I know now, I may have been a little more cautious in making statements like that. Granted, had I known then what I know now I may have been able to predict things about my life, like that time I broke my hand fighting off a mugger. I don't know what was worse: trying to type one handed or trying to dictate my articles to Jimmy. Longest two weeks of my professional life."

"That's what you want to predict? Unbelievable. And hey, I thought the longest two weeks of your professional life were our first two together?"

"It's something of a 1A and 1B situation."

"We seem to have strayed off topic here. Lois, you have no interest in Clark?"

"None at all."

"All right." Rachel turned and smiled at him. "Clark, I'm sure that, living in Metropolis, you know all the best little places to eat. How about you and I go out tomorrow, grab a bite and get to know each other better?"

"Hey, whoa there. Are you asking my partner out on a date?"

"Yes, I am. You have no interest in him, so I don't think there's going to be a conflict of interest."

"He's my _partner_! Of course it would be a conflict of interest, especially when the whole thing inevitably blows up in MY face!" She turned and faced him. "Clark, you cannot go on this date. You just can't. It's too weird."

Surveying the scene in front of him, Clark decided that things could work out one of two ways: either he could go out with Rachel, potentially having a good time and getting to know somebody that knows the deep dark secrets of Lois Lane, which sounded like fun. Or he could go the direction of less fun, which would be to decline the date, making Lois think she can dictate what he does and sit home alone on another Saturday night. Choices, choices.

"You know what, Rachel? I would love to take you out to eat tomorrow night. I know a great little place I bet even Lois hasn't heard of."

The aforementioned Lane sputtered a bit before she seemed able to spit out some words. "You're going to go out with her? But... but, why?"

"First of all it makes you stutter, which I think is kinda funny. Secondly, and most importantly, it beats the pants off sitting at home alone all night. I think I'll try having fun this week. I hear it's enjoyable doing things with other people that don't revolve around work. You had a date two weeks ago, so I think you remember how it works."

"But she's my cousin! And you never go out on dates!"

"And as such, I will be _very_ courteous in making sure I remember how a date works. Or, wait, no, I've been told courtesy is dead. I guess I'll just have to be rude while I remember how a date works."

"Rude? Now I'm really glad I asked you out, Clark."

"My sister, everyone," Owen said. "Guess it's just you and me tomorrow night, Lois."

"Guess so."

--

She hated pacing. It accomplished nothing except to show that you were trying to think something through and weren't comfortable doing so sitting down. Sitting wouldn't be any better than pacing, though. She'd sit, and ten seconds later her leg would start bouncing in anticipation, or she'd end up chewing on her lip. It all just pointed to the fact that she was extremely uncomfortable with her cousin going out on a date with her partner.

Nothing good could come from this date. At best they'd have a good time but decide not to do it again. At worst they'd spend the next five days together, leaving her to entertain Owen and leaving things at work decidedly uncomfortable. Or maybe worst was the date went horribly and it left things uncomfortable at work. No, the first worst case scenario was definitely worse than the second worst case scenario.

Any situation with two possible worst case scenarios should not be happening.

Groaning, Lois gave a quick glance back towards her bedroom, where Rachel was doing her last touch ups, adjustments or whatever one did when getting ready for a date with Clark Kent. At least with Clark she could be fairly certain that his farm boy values wouldn't allow for him and her cousin to be sexing each all night on the first date. Hopefully Rachel wouldn't do that, either, but since they were related she had to hedge her bets. She'd been known to get carried away with a guy or two over the years.

When Rachel emerged from the bedroom Lois did her best to look at ease, but she knew she'd failed when Rachel looked at her and just rolled her eyes.

"What do you want to say, Lois?"

"Say? I don't have anything to say."

"That would not only be a first, but I think it's physically impossible for you to not have something to say about pretty much every situation."

"Fine, I have something to say. My Partner? Seriously? This city is full of men willing to take out women that look like us, but you set your sights on the one I have to work with every day? Why... why... just why?"

"I didn't set my sights on him, Lo, or anything so ridiculous that makes me sound like I was guy hunting. He just... he's really attractive, as you know unless you've gone blind, and he's different than most guys I'm attracted to."

"Clark is different than most guys that most women have dated," Lois mumbled. "Yes, Clark is good looking, but do you know what else he is? Dull. He never goes out for a drink, never does

anything that could be construed as fun. After work he goes home and doesn't really do much; he's told me as much. I know we've only been partners about six weeks, but I can honestly say I don't think the guy likes dating. He never does it, despite having plenty of opportunity with

women from all over the office fawning over him. It was half the reason I was so shocked he agreed to go out with you. Normally he just deflects and declines politely, if not a bit clumsily."

"Well you know as well as I do, Lois, that dating can suck horrendously if you go out on dates with the wrong people, and going out with people from work is rarely the best idea. Maybe that's just been his problem; in the past he probably went out with girls that left him with dating scars and he's become hesitant."

"And are you going to try and _cure_ his hesitancy?"

"Your dirty innuendo aside, I'm going in with an open mind and hoping that Clark is a lot like he was last night. He didn't seem nearly as reserved as you described him."

Lois grunted. "Yeah, he did seem to come out of his shell a little bit last night. Normally he stutters and messes with his glasses a lot more than he did. He's also generally much less vociferous when it comes to come backs. All in all, last night was certainly not the norm. I wonder what changed?"

"Maybe I'll find out tonight." There was a knock at the door, and Rachel smiled. "I really liked the Clark I met last night, and I want that to continue."

"She really did that," Clark said, grinning as Rachel laughed. "And then afterwards she actually wondered what had gone wrong. It was our fourth day as partners and I was seriously wondering what I had been thrown into by Perry. He'd warned me that my time with Lois was going to be a trial by fire, but I hadn't thought that it was going to be literal fire. I guess that'll teach me, won't it?"

"Growing up with Lois, you kind of inherently understand that she's going to do things her way, and if that way doesn't work she's not going to understand why. It's just how she's always been, even when we were four and five years old. But if you're just thrown into it like you were... well, it's easy to see why she never kept a partner longer than a week and a half until you came along."

"It's odd, too, because even when she isn't with you she somehow is still the center of attention. I've heard a few stories about Lois, which I greatly appreciate, but I haven't really had a chance to learn anything about you." Taking a sip of his drink, Clark swallowed and continued where he'd left off. "Let me dig deep into my intricate reporter questioning skills and ask this: where'd you grow up?"

"That's digging deep into your intricate reporter questioning skills?" she asked, smiling.

"Well, working with Lois has had the adverse effect of my questioning skills atrophying a bit. Sometimes it is a bit difficult to get a word in edgewise, though she has a knack for asking all the questions I want to in a much more direct way."

"I best she does. To answer the question, though, I grew up in Chicago. Went to school at Northwestern so that I didn't end up moving far away from my family, though in the end the attempt to stay close was thwarted by Owen moving to New York and me getting sent to Miami for my job two months after I graduated. Our parents are still there, though, and we both try to get back to as much as we can. That's actually where we're headed after our time here; we both took two weeks off and flew here to spend five days with Lois, then we're headed home for the remainder of the time. We're actually trying to convince Lois to take a day off from work and join us there for a long weekend."

Clark made a show of being shocked. "Asking Lois Lane to take time off from work? But how would the world get its news?"

Rachel laughed a bit and popped one of the few fries left in front of her into her mouth. "You would think that's a realistic scenario, the way she makes it sound. Really, I think you should take offense to it; she makes you sound inept, the way she describes things potentially going downhill."

"It's just Lois being Lois. What do you think the odds are you two actually get her to take some time and go to Chicago?"

"Oh, she'll go. She's never really been one to turn down an opportunity to visit family, despite the show she makes against leaving the paper for a few days." She paused and took a drink before continuing. "So what about you? Since I've heard Lois call you Smallville a bunch, I imagine you grew up somewhere called Smallville. Must've been an experience."

Wasn't that the truth. Granted, he still couldn't tell people what had really happened there. People in Smallville barely believed what had transpired in the town over the years. "You could say that, yeah. It's a little farming community, as you can imagine, so one doesn't expect there to be a whole lot to it. It could be sneaky in its excitement level, though, especially for a guy growing up on a farm."

"You know of any good bars, Lois?"

Moving only her eyes, Lois glanced over at Owen, raising an eyebrow despite the fact that she wasn't sure he could see it. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm afraid that if your leg keeps bouncing like it is you're going to strain a muscle or something." Looking down, Lois slapped her hand onto her knee to stop the bouncing. "Since you won't loosen up and talk now, I figure you'll talk after a scotch or three. Probably not as much as when we were teenagers, but enough."

"I don't need to talk, Owen. Yeah, I could go off on how my cousin and my partner going on a date makes me think all kinds of things, things I don't really want to bother having to think, but I'm not going to. I could spend the next three hours telling you how many ways this could possibly go wrong, but I have better ways to spend three hours!"

"Sitting there tensely with one of your legs bouncing up and down restlessly?"

"Exactly."

"You handle unnecessary stress so well."

Lois sputtered a second before finding an appropriate response. "This is not unnecessary stress! This is stress that is like, ninety-eight percent necessary and two percent my natural state of being." Did that even make sense? She tried thinking about what exactly she'd meant to say and what she'd said, but the two didn't seem to match up well. Oh well. Maybe he'd understand it anyway.

"I don't get why you think it's necessary to stress yourself out like this over a simple date, Lois. Rachel isn't going to ruin Clark in any way, and with the kind of guy you describe Clark being I

think the biggest thing you have to worry about is if he kisses her on the cheek or simply shakes her hand. If Rachel likes him and all she gets is a handshake you may want to plug your ears because she'll rant for hours. Believe me, I've heard it, and let me tell you the last thing a brother wants to hear is that his sister wants a guy to be more bold. It's just wrong."

"Fortunately I've never had that problem with Lucy," Lois said. "She's more than willing to share, but I only listen half the time. Plus, I'm not a brother to her so there isn't some weird thing where hearing about her having sex is traumatic."

"Don't try to understand it. Few brothers, be they older or younger, want to hear about their sisters having sex. I think it's because we know very well what goes through our own mind, and similar things go through the minds of other guys. One does not want that mental picture if his sister is involved with it in _any _way."

"While this is a fascinating topic," Lois said, frowning, "how did we even get on it?"

"You said something, then I said something and we went from there. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, we got to this point, which is good."

"Why is it good?"

"Because you aren't thinking about Rachel and Clark, at least not directly. They've been pretty much the only topic on your mind all day, and my attempt to distract you seems to have worked at least for a minute or two."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess." Lois glanced at a clock, her frown returning as she noted the time. "11:30? I didn't think they'd be out so late?"

"11:30 isn't really all that late, Lois. I really don't get why this bothers you so much. I seriously doubt it's going to blow up, especially into your face, so what's the real story behind your tense obsession with the two of them going out?"

"I'm worried about Clark," Lois said, and off Owen's confused look she continued. "He just strikes me as the kind of guy that can get real into somebody quickly. He knows you guys are

only here for a short time, but combine what I said about him with Rachel's seemingly innate ability to make guys fall for her and it could be tough on him."

"And you're going to be the one that has to pick up the pieces," Owen said slowly.

Lois nodded. "He's my partner. Partners stick together through the tough times in their lives, and he's only been in Metropolis six weeks, so unless he's really good at hiding things he doesn't have any good friends around here. His best friend since high school lives in Topeka, so I'm pretty much all he has here. It's not like I wouldn't be willing to help him get over somebody in a normal situation; we're getting to be friends, not just partners, and that's what a friend does. But helping him get over my cousin? I don't know how to do that. I'd be the one to pick up the pieces except I wouldn't know how this time.

"In a normal situation, you say comforting things and do a bit of bad mouthing about the offending party to try and help break the rose colored glasses we generally wear in those regards. I can't go there this time if it all goes badly. I'm not going to try and tear down Rachel. So it leaves me in the awkward position of trying to be a friend without saying anything bad about my cousin, when if this happened with anybody else I would totally be on Rachel's side, no matter what."

"Well, now your position on things does make more sense."

"I'm sorry if I didn't explain things well enough before, but the brain was a bit preoccupied with the potential awkward silences in my future. You know how much I hate awkward silences."

"Your recent description of them as the second most evil thing in the world did a worthy description. I still can't believe you think chocolate is the most evil thing in the world, though."

"It's so good you can't _not_ eat it, and it's so fattening you can't _not_ feel like you need to run a mile for each bite you just took. Only a force of evil could have come up with something like that. I know it's girly of me, but I do have my girly moments."

--

Stopping at the front door to Lois's building, Clark smiled at Rachel and put his hands in his pockets. "This was great, Rachel. I haven't had this good a time on a first date in a long time." Ok, technically he hadn't had a first date in a long time, but he wasn't going to come right out and say that.

She smiled back at him. "I can honestly say the same thing, Clark. Most first dates feel a bit like interviews, which I'm sure for you is unfortunate since you do those for a living. This was just plain old fun."

"If you were going to be in town longer, I would definitely ask you out again. As it is, I am putting in the request that if we're both single next time you come to town we do this again."

"The same goes for you if you're ever in Miami, Clark; that happens, you damn well better look me up." She stepped close and got on her tiptoes, kissing him softly before shooting him one last smile and heading inside.

"So, how'd it go? Did you two hit it off? Did you screw him up for me to have to fix?"

Lois crossed her arms as Rachel just rolled her eyes and smiled. "It was a great date, Lois, and if we're both single the next time one of us is in the other's town, we'll do it again. I don't think anything could ever happen between us, though."

"I hate to ask this, because nothing happening between you two is for the best, but why not?"

"Because he's hung up on you, Lois, and he doesn't even know it yet. It's not like I blame him; I think it would be hard for any guy to work so closely with you and not find himself at least a little hung up on you. Just... when the time comes and he asks you out, if you aren't going to say yes, let him down easy. He's a rare kind of guy, and I don't want that ruined, even if I have only known him a short time."

"But... what... he's hung up on me? How could you tell?"

Rachel sat down on the couch and stretched for a second. "It wasn't obvious, but just the way he talked about you held something a bit more than he was letting on. Like I said, I don't think he even knows that he likes you as much as he does. He'll figure it out pretty soon, though. He

probably won't have a shot with you, though, with Superman being around, so be gentle with him."

Lois blinked, still a little stunned by the revelation. "Yeah, ok."

"Good, glad that's settled. I'm going to go crash, so goodnight and see you in the morning."

"Night, Rachel."

As Rachel disappeared into the bedroom, Lois's mind went into overdrive. Clark had feelings for her? How the hell had that happened? Sure they were partners, but she'd never done anything that had intimated things might turn into more than that, had she? No, of course not. Maybe it was just that he hadn't had a girlfriend for a while and so since she was in his life everyday one ting turned into another.

God, this was going to be a mess.


	22. Chapter 22

-- Chapter 22

Wearing the slight frown that she'd grown up watching, Rachel gave back as good as she got from Owen. "We spent time with her in Metropolis AND she was here. She could have brought it up and chose not to. All that aside, the fact of the matter is that it needed to be done and you aren't going to convince me otherwise!"

"He's her PARTNER, Rachel! She has to work with him five days a week, if not more when they're doing a particularly in-depth story. This could seriously impact both their lives, and you've given it the equivalent amount of thought as to what you ate for breakfast this morning."

"Oh that's not true and you know it." Reaching across the table they were sitting at in their parent's house, she grabbed a handful of pretzels and popped one into her mouth. "It took me all of five minutes to figure out how much Clark likes Lois, and it took me all of five minutes more to figure out just how good he'd be for her. You heard Clark; she's so wrapped up in Superman that she'll never find herself an actual human male that she can be happy with. You know how she latches onto things.

"What it boils down to is this: for all the great traits that Lois possesses, her curiosity will _always_ get the best of her. Always. If you plant the right seed in her mind, it'll germinate so quickly that you'll have a full blown redwood before you know it. I know that it sounds bad, like I'm manipulating her..."

"That's exactly what it sounds like, Rach."

"...but I'm not doing something malicious or hurtful. I'm opening up her eyes to show her what's right in front of her: Clark Kent, a good man that could possibly be the perfect person for her."

Owen's frown deepened a little bit. "Are you sure that she isn't going to just run roughshod all over him?"

"Trust me, the Clark Kent that Lois sees at the office is not the Clark Kent I saw on our date. I think all the tripping and general clumsiness he has in the office is because of Lois. When it was the four of us that first night, he seemed a lot less goofball than what Lois had described, and on our date he was a regular guy, with no clumsiness to be seen. When I figured that out, I kinda figured that the common denominator is Lois. She's what makes him clumsy."

Wiping some crumbs off her hands, Rachel ran them through her hair to pull it out of her eyes. "Here's the simplest way to put it all. Clark is clumsy because of Lois. Lois would really like Clark if her brain weren't so full from trying to figure out what Superman would look like naked. In fact, if the latter didn't exist, I bet she'd be doing the same thing for the former. As such, I took the necessary steps to make sure one replaces the other in her mind long enough for something to happen that moves her away from pining endlessly for Superman."

"Isn't it a little early to be branding her a Spinster?"

"You saw how she was when talking about Superman. Something needed to be done as quickly as possible or she'd have waited forever. If it doesn't work with Clark, well, at least she'll be out there in the market with men she can actually date again."

"When the inevitable shit hits the fan from all this, I'm using you as cover."

"Fine, but if those two end up happy and together for long amounts of time, I'm not going to hesitate to say I told you so. A lot."

--

Chewing on her lip, Lois cocked her head a bit to the side and watched as Clark fumbled a stack of papers for what appeared to be no reason other than simple clumsiness. He hadn't tripped like he usually did; the papers just seemed to fall out of his hands as he walked. He didn't even get the distant and distracted look that sometimes caused a tumble, bumble or fall. The papers had just fallen.

Why did she even find this significant? Well, that was a stupid question to ask herself. She knew exactly why she was trying to figure out some small, inconsequential detail about her partner: her cousin had ruined her indifference._ "Because he's hung up on you, Lois, and he doesn't even know it yet."_ Talk about the least helpful sentence in the history of mankind. All it had served to do so far was annoy her and distract her from work, which only added to the annoyed feelings she already possessed.

Did Rachel not understand the phrase 'Ignorance is bliss'? Was it lost on her that revealing that tidbit of information changed everything about the partnership? Now she couldn't just look at Clark and see a farm boy with a bad case of klutziness. Nope, now it was Clark, farm boy with a bad case of klutziness that had a crush on her that he was unaware of. A minor difference that made all the difference in their little world. It was things like this that led Lois to believe family visits would always cause her stress, no matter who it was visiting.

It had been a week since Rachel had dropped the bomb on her, and with her cousins no longer here to distract her, the only thing she seemed to be able to concentrate on was figuring out why Clark would have a crush on her how he could be unaware of it. Wasn't he like the rest of humanity and conscious of what he was thinking? Well, most of the rest of humanity. There were always exceptions, and it would figure that Clark Kent would be exactly that.

How was it that one stupid thing could occupy so much of her brain? She'd never contemplated anything having to do with Clark beyond him being her partner, at least until Perry eventually split them up and she got the corner office she'd had her eye on for years. She wanted that simplicity back. This whole confusing thing going on in her brain was giving her a headache, which was something she could live without. She needed a thought out solution that made sense and didn't mess with the status quo.

In place of something like that, she came up with a poorly thought out hasty way to hopefully fix things as quickly as possible.

Bouncing up out of her chair, Lois took long strides across the bullpen, making her way to where Clark had put down what remained of his stack of papers and was picking up all those he had dropped. Kneeling next to him, she started gathering papers, checking to see what kind of order there was to them. She put them in what order she could before handing them to Clark. "I saw you had some problems holding things again, so I figured I'd help you out."

He smiled at her sheepishly, dropping all the papers in his arms on the pile he'd set aside. "Another one of those days, I guess."

"Days? More like hours, Smallville." Waving her hands to dismiss the topic while Clark picked up the rest of the large pile once more, Lois got around to her plan. "Look, I've been thinking about things, and I kinda came to a conclusion a few minutes ago that we need to do something together one of these nights."

He nodded. "Yeah, ok. Are we talking stakeout, or something more informal?"

"Stakeout? No, nothing like that. I meant like a date."

The papers Clark had been holding suddenly fell to the floor again, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "A date? I didn't... but you... is this some sort of reaction to me going out with Rachel last week?"

More a reaction to what happened after their date, but there was no reason to say that out loud. This date would be exactly what she needed to get Clark out of her head. They'd go out, find out that they were meant to be partners and nothing more and everything would be put behind them. It was flawless. "Of course not. I've been hesitant to take this step considering that we work together, but I think it's worth a try. What do you say?"

After a moment of his face being relatively unreadable, he finally shrugged and said, "Why not? This does make me question whether or not I'm irresistible to women in your family, though."

Rolling her eyes, Lois answered his grin with a smirk. "Very funny. Let's pick up your papers and get back to work."

--

Giving her dress a little adjustment as to how it sat on her shoulders, Lois planted herself in front of her mirror and put her full attention on her hair. Gathering it up in her hand, she held it up, trying to decide if she wanted it that way, or simply wanted to let it rest on her shoulders. Crinkling her nose, she let go and shook her head a little to settle it in its regular position. That was the key word: regular.

More often than not, Clark saw her hair like this, the tips resting just about to the middle of her shoulder blades. They'd agreed that they weren't going to get super fancy with this, or even much beyond casual, but fact was that they were still going out on a date. She didn't want to look exactly the same as she always did. She wasn't exactly hoping for it to go well; she wasn't hoping for it to go poorly, either. This date was simply a way for her to make certain that Clark Kent having a crush on her went no further than just a crush.

Really, this was all for Clark's benefit. They would go out, he would lose the crush he wasn't aware he had, and they could go back to being partners without any unresolved sexual tension. Not that she felt any unresolved sexual tension. Okay, she could admit that Clark was an attractive man, at least when he was around Rachel and not being a stumbling buffoon. Though he did have something of a boyish charm when he grinned as he pushed those glasses that didn't quite fit up on his nose. And it _had_ been a while since there'd been any sex in her life...

Lois quickly pushed that line of thought to the back of her mind, quickly realizing what little good could come out of it. The fact that Clark Kent and sex had come into her mind at the same time was something that had seemed as likely as a tree coming to the door and asking to borrow a cup of sugar. Ten days ago, she would have thought the latter to be the more likely of the two events.

Grabbing a couple clips off the counter in front of her, Lois put her hair up into a loose but neat little hairdo she'd picked up a few years ago without much thought to what she was doing. When she realized what she'd done, she raised an eyebrow at herself. This had been her third date hair since the first time she'd used it. Her go to style, with the perfect combination of not looking like she'd put too much effort into it but letting it shine and be a good compliment to the rest of her. Of course, now she wouldn't know what the hell to do if she and Clark got to a third date.

What the hell was wrong with her? She was thinking about what she would do with her hair if she and Clark made it to a third date. She never thought ahead when it came to people she was dating. Hers was a take one date at a time philosophy, because if she got ahead of herself then her head wouldn't be in the date she was supposed to be on! Yet here she was, using her third date hair on a first date that she wasn't even really thinking of as a date, just preventative medicine for Smallville!

Moving from where she'd been, Lois walked through her bedroom and out to the living room, grabbing her purse and pulling out her phone. Skimming through names, she found the one she was looking for and hit dial.

"Hey Lo."

"Rachel, why the hell would you do this to me?"

"I'm going to have to claim ignorance until you explain to me what I allegedly did."

"You made me think about Clark in ways I wasn't prepared to think about him! I'm not 12; I know what you did, putting the idea in me and waiting until something came of it. I thought you'd outgrown that little practice with the years."

She heard her cousin chuckle. "Yeah, I guess we all fall back into old habits. So, have you asked him out on a date yet?"

Lois really wished that Rachel was in her living room and not in Chicago. She really deserved to be shaken right about now. "We're going out tonight."

"In that case, I expect a call tomorrow telling me how much fun you had and how awesome I am for making you do this in a somewhat underhanded but altogether well intentioned manner. Goodnight, Lo."

There was a click, and Lois stared wide eyed at her phone a moment before scrolling to Rachel's name and calling her again. When it went straight to voicemail Lois about threw her phone. "I'm going to kill her," she muttered, dropping the phone back where she'd found it. "It's as simple as that; she screwed with my head one too many times, and now she's going to have to pay for it." Maybe she'd take pity on her cousin and just find a way to do something tortuous to her instead of killing her...

Shaking herself out of her thoughts of revenge, Lois checked the time and realized that Clark was going to be there to pick her up at any moment. Checking herself in a mirror, she realized that she was ready on time and smiled; she had a tendency to run late for dates. Though, what the hell did it mean that she was actually on time for this particular date? No, that would be putting too much into this thing she was doing for Clark's benefit. It shouldn't even be called a date, really.

Having totally immersed herself in her thoughts, Lois jumped when her phone started ringing. Taking a second to catch her breath, she grabbed it, and with a quick check of the caller ID grimaced. She flipped it open to answer, saying, "It's Friday night and I'm not at work, Perry. Do you know how rare that is?"

"Rare, and tonight something of an annoyance. I need you at the airport ASAP. Superman is flying in what was moments ago an out of control 747 and I want firsthand coverage with quotes from the man himself if you can manage. I expect the article in time for the morning edition, Lane."

As abruptly as her call with Rachel had ended, her call with Perry ended even more abruptly. With a few choice obscenities for her boss dropping this on her one of the few nights she didn't want to work into the wee hours of the morning, Lois grabbed her notepad and scribbled a quick note to Clark explaining what was going on. Leaving her apartment, Lois handed the note to the doorman as she exited the building, explaining the situation as she hailed a cab. So much for not being late.

--

Flashing her press badge, Lois walked by an officer without saying a word and made her way over to where the rest of the press was interviewing airport workers and airline officials. Apparently Superman hadn't arrived with the plane on his back yet, which made sense. That probably couldn't be something one could rush.

Scanning the darkening skies, Lois tried to see if she could catch a glimpse of anything headed in. It was early enough so that she could still see a good ways out, but dark enough so that the city skyline glowed with the outlines of all the major buildings. She loved the view of the city at night; in her mind it was one of the more beautiful skylines in the world, up there with Paris, New York and the other major cities.

Deciding to wait until after the plane was safely landed to get her quotes, Lois kept her eyes on the sky, hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of the airplane. This went on for a few minutes before Lois heard an official's radio go off, saying the plane was coming in from the south. Turning, Lois focused her eyes in that direction and soon found what she was looking for. She started to tell Jimmy to get some pictures when she realized it was just her, so she pulled out her emergency camera and got what she could as the plane descended.

Soon enough Superman had the plane on the ground and Lois was rushing over to see if she could get a quote. He spotted her as she made her way over, and smiled, but took off soon after. Stopping with a sigh, Lois watched his silhouette disappear after a few seconds and let her shoulders stoop for a moment. There was always a good bit of disappointment when she didn't get to talk to him after a save. Most of the time they did talk, he was saving just her and not a plane full of people. Maybe he just had somewhere to be tonight.

Remembering that she had somewhere to be tonight, Lois hurried back over to where the bigwigs were and started getting some quotes. She was just finishing up with somebody when she saw Clark walking up, decked out in attire she'd never seen him in before. His suits always seemed like they were a little too big for him; the clothes he was wearing tonight in no way appeared to be too big. They hadn't seen each other out of the office a whole lot yet in their young partnership, and Lois found that Clark had a much better way of dressing out of work than he did in work. He just seemed to look a lot more comfortable.

She smiled at him as he got to her, him pushing his glasses up on his nose as always. The clothes might be different, but Clark Kent would always be Clark Kent. "Smallville, what are you doing here? Did Perry send you?"

"No, actually. I heard about it as I was headed over to your place and played the odds that Perry would call you and have you covering something big like this. Looks like I got it right."

"Good guess. Had you gotten to my building, I left a note with Ryan the doorman to give to you explaining the situation. But, guess that wasn't necessary, and now you can cut my interview time in half, not to mention writing time, though I don't know when we'll actually get to go out on our date."

"If all else fails we can simply go to a bar tonight or do it tomorrow."

"No," she said, waggling her pencil at him, "I like the idea of a bar. I know a great little place eight blocks from my apartment where we'll still be able to get a bite even if we take our time with this." As she ended her stomach rumbled at her; lunch had been about seven hours ago. "I'm hungry though, so let's get to it, Smallville."

--

Smiling around what remained of her margarita, Lois emptied the glass with a gulp and waved at Phil, the bartender, to set her up with another. "I told you they make top notch drinks here, Clark. Stray away from your boring beer and have something else. This is already the best date I've been on in near to a year, and I'm going to make it that for you, too."

"Lois, great drinks or not this already beats just about any date I've _ever_ had." He smiled at her again, shaking his head a little. "I hate to say it, but I was hesitant going into this. We're so good as partners that I didn't know if it was a great idea to risk it. I was kind of afraid that our natural tendency towards the opposite sides of how we do things would have an impact on our date, but once again we seem to compliment each other instead of... not complimenting each other." He frowned. "There had to have been a better way to say that."

"Uh oh," Lois said, flashing a quick smile at Phil as he put her drink down in front of her before looking back to Clark. "Does the human dictionary, Mr. Spell Check himself, find himself not having the correct words?" Reaching over, she shook his beer bottle a bit to see how much was in there. "You've had almost a whole beer, Clark; am I going to have to have you cut off before you start slurring and getting a little too affectionate?"

Clark's eyes narrowed, though he still smiled. "I bet I can drink you under the table, Lois Lane."

Oh, this was going to be the easiest bet she ever made. "_Really_? You think you can drink me under the table, Clark? Fine, I accept. What's the wager?"

"When I win, I get to kiss you once wherever and whenever I want to. It will be stated when the kiss happens that it's the kiss from this bet, so that you can't wriggle out of it by saying that you let me kiss you good night tonight."

"So you think there's going to be a goodnight kiss tonight, Kent?"

"I'm thinking my chances are pretty good, Lane."

Eyeing him, a thought occurred to her, causing Lois to quirk an eyebrow. "Wherever, Clark? That's a lot naughtier than I expected from you."

It took a second for him to figure out what she meant, and she could tell when he did because he started shifting around in his seat and blushed bright red. "Lois, you know I didn't mean wherever _that way_." A second later, despite his blush, he grinned and looked away, as if thinking of something. "Though, now that you mention it..." He trailed off into a lascivious grin that looked extremely odd on him.

Unfortunately, Lois found herself blushing as much as he had a second before at the thought of what Clark was implying. Jesus, it hadn't been THAT long since she'd had sex. Apparently she needed to keep a tighter leash on her libido. With a quick clearing of her throat, Lois got to what she would get when she won. "Keep dreaming, Clark. Now, here's what happens when I win: Monday, you'll be sending out a memo, stating in no uncertain terms that Lois Lane is a far better journalist than you could ever hope to be, that she's the most beautiful woman you've ever met and that you'll forever be in her debt for taking you under her wing and turning you into a journalist worthy of The Daily Planet."

"Wow, that would be very embarrassing. Good thing I'm going to win."

"Keep dreaming, Smallville."

--

Opening her eyes, Lois snapped them shut again as the glimmer of light started a pounding in her head like tiny men with jack hammers going to town all over her skull. Reaching up from under her bedspread, Lois rubbed at her forehead with her thumb and grimaced as she noticed just how dry her tongue felt. Finding it a necessary evil, Lois cracked one eye open and spotted a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers on her night stand. However they'd gotten there, she was thankful for both. After swishing some water around in her mouth for a moment, Lois popped a couple pills and swallowed them before downing the rest of the water.

With a muffled groan, she pulled her covers tightly around herself and closed her eyes, hoping she could sleep the rest of her hangover away. Unfortunately that didn't work as she'd planned, her throbbing head keeping her from going back to sleep. After ten minutes of futile grumbling and wishing, she threw her covers off and got out of bed. Walking to her bedroom door, she was about to go make some very strong coffee when she caught the aroma of coffee already made. How the hell had that happened? Obviously somebody was out there, but who would be making coffee?

Deciding to see who it was instead of trying to guess, she opened her door and walked out, only to find herself face to face with her date from the previous night. Even hungover as she was, she should have been able to figure that out. "Smallville? What are you still doing here?"

He smiled and handed her a cup of coffee, though after a first glance he seemed to be looking away. Tasting it, she found it to be strong, if not so strong as she needed, though at least he hadn't added anything to it. "First, I was getting you home safely. Second, I was making sure you wrote this so you remembered." Hand handed her a piece of paper.

_I sign this to acknowledge that I, Lois Lane, have lost the drinking bet to Clark Kent, and hereby of my own drunken free will do pledge to hold to the terms._

_Lois Lane_

"Wow, I must have been really drunk to have written such a ridiculous note," she muttered, taking another sip of her coffee.

"I found it particularly odd that while sober you never spell 'acknowledge' correctly, yet while astoundingly drunk you managed to spell it correctly with ease."

After rolling her eyes, she noticed that he still hadn't looked at her since that first glance, which was odd. Clark didn't always make eye contact, but he was usually better about it than this. "Third, I was holding back your hair as you appeared to throw up your last fifteen meals. The throwing up seemed to make you want to talk, oddly enough, and your confession that Rachel is the reason you ever thought of going out with me is interesting. I'll have to thank her sometime. Anyway, fourth, I was staying the night to make sure you were ok, and fifth I was leaving painkillers by your bed and making coffee so you didn't suffer too much because of our contest."

And he still wouldn't look at her! "Are you grossed out by what you saw last night, Smallville? Is the sight of me sickening to you or something?"

"No, it's just that, uh, you're kinda half naked. Figured I'd be a gentleman about it." He waved a hand in her direction as if that helped what he was saying.

Looking down at herself, Lois found that she was standing there only in her bra and thong from last night. Fighting embarrassment, she did her best to walk calmly into her room and grab her robe, pulling it around herself and tying it quickly. With a deep, calming breath, she walked back out to the kitchen where Clark sat waiting. "I'd say sorry, but I think that was more of a treat for you than anything. I do appreciate you not taking advantage, though," she added quietly.

His smile told her that he'd heard, but he didn't say anything about it. "So, Clark, we went out on what I think was a very successful first date. When are we going out again?"

He shrugged. "I don't know yet. I think it'll be hard to plan until I get that goodnight kiss I think our amazing date warranted."

"You certainly earned a kiss, if nothing else."

"I don't want you to kiss me because you think I earned it, Lois. I want you to kiss me because you had as good a time on our date last night as I did, and feel that it's the natural conclusion to things."

Barking a quick laugh at what she thought was a joke, she quickly found it wasn't. He stepped up in front of her and suddenly had his hands on her hips. Eyes widening, she started talking in her shock. She really wanted to kiss him, because it had been one of, if not THE most amazing date she'd ever had, but not like this! "I taste and smell like stale alcohol, Clark! I haven't showered or brushed my teeth or..."

"So? You don't need to look and smell perfect for me to want to kiss you, Lois."

Gone was the bumbling farm boy she'd gotten to know the past six or seven weeks; in his place stood a very confident man that was ridiculously attractive, looking very, _very _kissable. She unconsciously licked her lips as her eyes darted to his lips before going back to his eyes. He looked extremely determined, and who was she to deny the sexy, determined man masquerading as Clark a kiss? The thought of sexy and determined tickled something in the back of her mind, but she was too consumed with what was about to happen to give it much thought.

Getting up on her toes, she initiated the kiss, but he'd soon taken over, her toes curling as he lifted her a little off the floor for a moment, setting her down again when their lips parted. Staring up at him as she caught her breath, she shook her head a little. The man knew how to kiss, she'd give him that. Raising a hand, he cupped the right side of her face, and she found herself relishing the touch, the feel of his smooth hand fitting perfectly against her face. He leaned down and brushed a light kiss on her lips, smiling softly. "Thank you for the best date I've ever had, Lois," he said quietly. "I'll call you tonight."

With that, he walked away and out of her apartment. The man not only knew how to kiss, but he knew how to make an exit, too. Not giving much thought as to why making an exit made her think of Superman, she simply started grinning.

--Three Months Later--

Struggling against the ropes that held her tightly to the chair, Lois attempted again to call for Superman, only to get lungs full of smoke instead of oxygen, causing her another coughing fit. After having worked the gag out of her mouth thanks to a loose knot, Lois hadn't been able to get out many words for all the smoke that filled the room she was in. She'd yet to see any fire, but the floor was starting to get hot, and smoke was beginning to flood in even more quickly through any opening it could find.

Rocking in her chair, Lois got it to fall over a moment later. Even though her hands came free, with the heat from the floor, it may not have been her best idea, and it had taken long enough that there was enough smoke in the room so she still couldn't get a full breath. Coughing more than breathing now, she fought just to get a word out into the hazy, dry air, and having failed to get Superman to help her, she started losing hope she'd survive. A hot tear rolled down her cheek, thought it was still cool in contrast to the air around her and floor beneath her.

With as much sound as she could manage between coughs, she finally got a word out. "Clark."

Rolling into a ball as another coughing fit wracked her, the only thing she could think was that she'd never gotten then chance to tell Clark she loved him.

All of a sudden there was a gust of fresh air and the smoke started clearing out of the room. Lois gulped in as much fresh as her lungs could hold, still coughing but now getting the smoke out of her lungs instead of taking more in. Never again would she take breathing for granted, or at least not for a long time after this. Taking in more fresh air, Lois pushed herself up into a sitting position, coughing just a little bit now as she let her head hang for a second. She'd really thought that she was going to buy the farm this time.

Looking up, she saw a blur enter the room and turn into Superman, who pulled her up and started inspecting her for any kind of damage.

"Are you all right, Lois? Did you get burned?"

"No," she said, though her voice was fairly horse. "Lungs got a little singed, and I now have a much greater appreciation for air not filled with smoke, but I'm ok. Thank you, Superman. As always, thank you."

"I was just afraid when I saw you in here... why didn't you call for me?"

"Couldn't really get out the words," Lois said, ending with a cough. With a pained smile, she winked at him. "See what I mean?"

"I do."

"I had a little revelation, though. If nothing else comes out of this situation, at least I finally admitted to myself what I've been afraid to admit for a couple weeks now, because it's so fast for me. I love Clark. I love him, so much, and I need to tell him that. Do you know what I mean?"

He hesitated for a moment; she didn't know if she'd brought them onto ground that was too personal for him until he answered. "I have an idea, yes."

"Good," she said, "I'm glad you've at least had the opportunity to be in love. I was never sure if you'd had that, or could have that, but I really am glad you've had that in your life."

He smiled at her, and suddenly his hand was on her face. "Thank you, Lois."

Almost by reflex she lightly rubbed her cheek against the soft hand, and as she realized what she was doing her eyes popped open to look at the face that went with the hand she knew so well. It couldn't be... but the hand... her eyes widened as realization dawned on her, and she took a step back. Confusion crossed his face before he suddenly seemed to realize what he'd done. "Lois..."

Jumping forward into his arms, she kissed him, her legs wrapped around his waist, and suddenly everything was crystal clear. Superman was Clark Kent, and Clark Kent was Superman. All those times she'd pushed the similarities away when they'd been there, so plain to see once they'd started dating. She didn't know that she had wanted to see, but it was too late for that now.

Stopping the kiss was more difficult than breathing had been for a while, but finally she unwrapped her legs from him, and he let her down; she hadn't even felt his arms go around her to hold her up. She rested her forehead on his chest a moment before looking up at him, into eyes that actually looked scared, because he didn't know how she was going to react. It occurred to her just how much she loved him, because she didn't feel angry. Really, she was just happy that he knew she loved him, even if she'd told him in a roundabout way.

"Clark Kent, you are so busted."


	23. Chapter 23

-- Chapter 23

"I'm not mad, Clark." Seeing him frown a little deeper, she got up on her toes and kissed him. Lowering herself back down, she took to looking around the now somewhat burnt out building and figured that the safest route of exit would now be the Superman express. The Clark Kent express. That was going to take some getting used to.

"Are you sure? This seems like one of those things you would be mad about. You kinda, well, threw yourself at Superman a few times, which I figure you probably never would have wanted me, being Clark Kent, to know about."

"I do wish you would have trusted me..."

"It was never an issue of trust, Lo."

"...but in the end, am I really the type of person to be mad at her boyfriend for going out and saving the world? Well, considering my past with Ollie, I used to break up with boyfriends that went out and saved the world, but I like to think I've mellowed out since then."

"It's good that you think that."

"See, comments like that? They might make me angry."

Clark scrubbed a hand through his hair, giving Lois the opportunity to sidle up to him and let his arm come down around her. "Lois, your past with Ollie... you said you didn't want to be left behind anymore, that you could tell how big his destiny was and broke up with him because he'd never be able to break up with you. I bring this up, hopefully not to my detriment, because I don't ever want you to feel like I'm leaving you behind. I love you, but I might not always be able to be there when you need me to as your boyfriend, lover or whatever."

"We've gotten through three months of your flimsy excuses and running off at inopportune times, Clark. Now that I know why you leave and where you're going, I think it will make things between us stronger, not weaker." She smacked him on the chest lightly. "Remember that, farm boy: the truth makes things better between us, not worse."

"You're sure that you aren't mad?"

"Oh my God, if you ask me that again, I WILL be mad!"

"Got it. So, should we get out of here? It's held up so far, but I'm not entirely sure that this building is structurally sound anymore."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go home and celebrate the fact that I'm alive, we're together and I know the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do know the whole truth, right?"

He smiled down at her as he lifted her into his arms. "You do."

"Then let's go home, Clark."

--

Flying just under the speed of sound, Clark watched the world go by beneath him as it passed from predominantly green to the blank white of the far north. His clothes whipped against his skin from the speed, choosing to fly in what he'd been wearing when he'd gone to bed instead of donning his uniform. He'd flown high enough in the atmosphere that nobody could see him with the naked eye, and anybody that might catch him using a telescope would only see a quick blur, if that. If he'd worn a bright light, he could have passed for a shooting star.

Pushing his speed a little, he covered the last bit of the distance in a few seconds, coming to a stop within the Fortress. Walking up to the main panel, Clark stood before it, pulling in a deep breath; what he was doing was more symbolic than anything, really, but it was a precursor to big things. Moving forward always seemed to have some sort of precursor. "Father," he called out, waiting for the AI to answer.

"Yes, my son."

"I want to make an entry to the Fortress computer. I want to enter Lois Lane as my partner, my lover or whatever name it may go under." In the two months since she'd found out that he was Superman, they'd grown even closer than they had been, as hard as it had been for him to believe they could. She'd been true to what she said: she'd never once expressed any anger that he hadn't told her about his other identity. It had just cemented in him the fact that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Doing this, to him, was a smaller step than proposing, but a big enough step that he would share it with her once it was done, so she knew what she meant to him.

"The human Lois Lane is your mate, Kal-El?"

Mate. That seemed as good a name for what she was to him as anything, though he thought Lois might find it lacking in overall quality. She'd probably just be surprised that the Kryptonian AI wouldn't have a better name for it. "Yes, father. Lois Lane is my mate."

"Are you in possession of the bracelet, Kal-El?"

Bracelet? Did he mean the Kawatche bracelet? "The bracelet passed down by the Kawatche people, father?"

"Yes."

"I'm in possession of it, yes." He was in possession but he honestly had no idea where it was. He hadn't thought about that thing in years, maybe since not long after he'd come to own it. He'd put it... somewhere, for safe keeping, on the off chance he did someday meet somebody. Of course, when you don't think about something for the better part of a decade, you tend to lose track of where the safe keeping was. He'd have to track that down.

"Bring the bracelet and Lois Lane to me, my son, and she will be properly entered into the Fortress computer."

"Bring her here? Why?" He'd learned to trust Jor-El on many things, but he wasn't afraid to question what was going on when it came to Lois.

"To be properly entered as your mate, Kal-El, Lois Lane must be present and wearing the bracelet. The computer will recognize her through the bracelet from then on; it will be tuned to her and only her so that she may use your Fortress should the need arise. This will also allow her access to the Fortress through the portal within the caves."

Clark figured that such things would certainly be handy in a dire situation; now he was just going to have to explain the situation to Lois. So much for bringing her up here and surprising her. Now he was going to have to bring her up here just to make his romantic gesture happen. Well, maybe she'd still see it as romantic.

--

"Your _mate_? Seriously? What are we, friends in England? Your father couldn't have programmed a better word into the artificial intelligence, like partner or lover?"

Sighing, Clark let his shoulders slump. Things had gone over about as he'd expected them to; this would have been much better had he been able to simply take her to the Fortress and show her. Explaining it ruined the fun. "Lois, it's not the word that really matters. The Fortress of Solitude is a part of who I am, or at least contains information about where and who I come from. I wanted you to be in that information, because I don't want Clark Kent _or_ Kal-El to be thought of without Lois Lane coming to mind."

She stared at him a moment, her face something between a scowl and a smile. "See, this is why you get the puff pieces, Clark. If you can pull at my heartstrings like that, then you can do it to anybody."

"Well, I do like to think that I have a certain power over your heart, Lo."

She raised up her hand and held her finger about an inch from her thumb. "About this much. If I'm generous, maybe this much," she said as she moved her finger another half inch.

Grinning, Clark leaned across the kitchen table and spread her fingers apart as far as they could go. "You know it's _at least_ this much. I think we'd have to start using arms for the real amount."

"Oh, keep wishing."

"Come on, you know you swoon over me whenever I'm not looking."

"Lois Lane doesn't swoon over anybody, no matter how swoon worthy a person may be."

"I remember some definite swooning when you first met Superman. Heck, I bet there was some secret swooning when you met Clark Kent, because everybody knows that of the two, he's the one that really has the looks."

"Ha!" Lois exclaimed, shooting out of her chair and into her kitchen. Clark spent most of his time at her apartment now; of the two, hers was much nicer than his. Technically they hadn't moved in together, but he all but lived with her. The only reason he ever used his apartment anymore was as a place to keep his spare Superman uniforms.

"No woman in the WORLD would ever look at Clark Kent if he stood next to Superman."

"Funny you should say that, considering that while Superman was still out there, you looked at Clark Kent a lot."

"Ah, but the two of you were never side by side, no were you?" Coming back from the kitchen, she handed him a bottle of water as she opened up a beer. "If it had been possible, and the two of you were standing next to each other, I wouldn't have even known you existed."

"I find that hard to believe," he said around the mouth of the water bottle, taking a quick sip before replacing the cap and setting it down on the table. "Fortunately we were never in that situation."

"Fortunately for you, Clark. Me, I could have lived having that much eye candy in front of me. So, when do we head up to your Fortress to get me in the system?"

One could never know what to expect from Lois; Clark had been in a relationship with her for over five months, and he still got caught unawares when the conversation turned on a dime. "You're willing to go up there and do it?"

"Of course I am. I wouldn't want anybody to think Clark Kent _or_ Kal-El without thinking Lois Lane, would I? I really am the coolest thing about you, not counting your mom, so you only stand to profit from it," she said, smiling mischievously.

Rolling his eyes, Clark moved around the table and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Hard to argue that, Lois. Who would want to fly when he could have Lois Lane, right?"

"Finally, he gets it."

Landing in the Fortress, Clark put Lois down and moved over to the console, adjusting the temperature so that she could be comfortable without having to stand huddled up in her thickest winter coat, which she wore on top of a flannel shirt of his. For as much as she complained about him owning them, not to mention wearing them the few times they'd been out to the farm together, she sure seemed to end up wearing them a lot.

"Jor-El, I've brought Lois and the bracelet with me." Clark pulled the bracelet out of his pocket, handing it to Lois as she pulled off the warm clothing she'd been wearing to end up in jeans and a t-shirt, as was her usual wear outside of the office.

"Put on the bracelet, Lois Lane, so that you may make your choice."

Clark was quickly on guard; why had Jor-El never mentioned a choice to him? "What choice are you talking about, Jor-El? Why didn't you tell me about this when I was last here?"

"This choice is not for you to make, Kal-El, but for Lois Lane alone. When she puts on the bracelet, she will learn of her choices."

Clark looked over at her, glancing at the bracelet a second before looking back into her eyes. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Lois."

She raised an eyebrow. "What, and not at least find out what I have to choose from? That hardly sounds like any fun at all. Besides, if I don't like what I hear, I can always say no, right?"

"No isn't always the best choice when it comes to dealing with the AI, Lois."

"It hasn't met me yet, Clark." With that she slipped the bracelet on, and a second later she was engulfed in white light so bright that Clark had to look away. Then she was gone.

--

Opening her eyes, Lois found herself in what she could only describe as infinity in physical form... kind of. There was nothing but light; no walls distinguished rooms, no darkness distinguished another area. There was simply light. There didn't seem to be any up or down, no right or left. Everything all around her was exactly the same. She couldn't even tell how she was standing. It felt like she should be falling, but that would have given dimension to the area around her. That probably wasn't allowed.

"Hello, Lois Lane." The voice came from nowhere, or in this case it could have been coming from everywhere. It was a woman's voice, soft but firm. After a moment something started to take form in front of her, and suddenly Lois found herself staring at a woman in white robes, blonde tresses falling past her shoulders, a small smile she thought looked vaguely like Clark's when he was doing something like a crossword puzzle and finished it. "My name is Lara. I am Kal-El's mother."

"You're his mother?" Shaking her head, Lois smiled. "I always thought you'd have dark hair, like he does, for some reason. Guess you can never know something until you actually see it." Didn't she live by something like that motto when she was working? Stupid place of light was making her feel silly.

"Kal-El resembles his father strongly, I can imagine. He did as an infant, I know, but beyond that I cannot be sure."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, you're dead." Well, that was nice and blunt of her. "I mean, Jor-El is dead too, but he's only a voice." Sighing, Lois rolled her eyes at herself. "Sorry, that was kind of insensitive, but I'm getting thrown out of my comfort zone being here, wherever we are."

"I understand," Lara said. "This is not something that I wanted explained to you, because I wanted an honest answer from the heart. I had very little time to include much at all in the programming of Kal-El's Fortress of Solitude, so I dedicated what time I had to making this."

"Then to ask the obvious question, what is this?"

"An opportunity. Because of how his body reacts to the yellow sun of your planet, Kal-El will live a life span far longer than that of any human. I knew that when he found his mate, his True One to which he would give the bracelet, he would outlive her. That cannot be changed; the human body has its limitations, and Kryptonian technology cannot change that. It can, however, give you more time with him."

"How?"

"Within this program, through the Fortress, lies the ability for you to restore your physical peak, the age at which you were your most healthy. According to what the computer has read of your body, that would be the age of twenty."

"_That_ was my physical peak?" Lois grumbled, crossing her arms beneath her breasts. "And here I thought all the running from danger and being rescued by Clark had me at my physical peak now."

"Your body would be returned to the form it had when you were twenty, Lois, and with that you would be changed."

"Changed? What would be changed?"

"Your body would be made immune to all illnesses known to the Fortress that afflict your planet, as well as others. Your body would also be changed so that it aged more slowly. The Fortress cannot tell the future, so it is unknown how long you would have lived, but if you choose to accept my offer, you will live to be approximately two hundred years old, perhaps a few more or less depending upon how your body takes to the changes. Even if it is fewer, you would still live far beyond that of a normal human."

"Two hundred!" Lois would have sat down if she thought it was possible, but instead just stood there, shocked at what she was hearing. She had the opportunity to live to two hundred? Jesus, if she lived to be eighty without the changes, that was... numbers her brain was incapable of doing at the moment. "I would age more slowly? So, say if I lived to be eighty without the changes, with them I would live another 120 years. What's the years to years ratio in that?"

"One way you would age sixty years, the other one hundred eighty, so you would age one year for every three that passed in your scenario."

"Wow, that's... that's huge. I would live longer than any human ever had... but I would also outlive all my family." Raking a hand through her hair, the implications beyond just living an extraordinarily long life hit her. She'd outlive Rachel and Owen easily, their children, grandchildren and probably their great grandchildren. Owen and she were born the same year, and if he had a kid when he was thirty, and that kid had a kid when he or she was thirty and so on, with each living to be eighty... God, in that situation she'd die at the same time as Owen's great great grandchild. That would be insane.

"I apologize if this is a lot to take in," Lara said, snapping Lois out of her thoughts. "As I said, for this I wanted an honest answer from the heart. There is one last change I must tell you of before you decide." Lois nodded, still thinking on the last thing Lara had told her, and heard her continue. "There would also be a change to your body to make it stronger."

"Stronger how?"

"Stronger so that you and Kal-El could have children."

If she hadn't been totally attentive at that point, she certainly was now. "Ch-children? You mean, as I am now, we wouldn't be able to have any of our own?"

"I don't know, nor is it known within the Fortress computer if human and Kryptonian DNA are compatible. There are differences, obviously, but there wasn't enough time to research human DNA and its compatibility before we had to launch Kal-El's ship. I do know, that in even the best of circumstances, pregnancy takes an enormous toll on the body. I am unsure that if you did conceive, you would be able to carry the baby to term, or if you did that you would survive beyond the birth because of the toll on the body.

"Without the proper knowledge, there is every chance that as you both are, you would be able to conceive a child and carry that child to term, delivering a healthy son or daughter without complication. The changes I make would simply increase that possibility." Lara gave a small smile, almost looking wistful. "I include this because of the lack of knowledge, and because Jor-El and I had a difficult time conceiving Kal-El. I want my son, and his True One, to know the happiness Jor-El and I felt when we found out he existed, and the pure joy we knew when he was born. He was, and still is, my miracle."

Lois chewed on her lip, contemplating everything that was at stake. Children. God, children had always seemed like something that would be far in her future, even at this point in her life. She wanted to be married before she had children, and she and Clark had only been together almost six months. It could be two or three years before they got married, even with as good as they were together. Clark might propose sooner, and they might get married and have a child within that time frame too, but who could tell the future? But she'd never thought on the ramifications of him being from another planet on their having children; he was the most human person she knew, so it just never occurred to her.

With all that on her mind, Lois asked the only question she could think of. "Would I still be human?"

Lara nodded. "Yes, you would still be human. Just... advanced."

Well, at least there was that. She still couldn't get her mind around everything. Living to be two hundred years old, never getting sick... the ability to have a child with Clark. But outliving all her family... and her job? How would she explain the fact of her slow aging? Perry would probably be very old, possibly even dead by the time she looked like she was thirty. Scrubbing a hand over her face, she groaned; it was just too much information for her brain to process.

Lara had said think with her heart, though. Closing her eyes, Lois let her thoughts slip away and found one fact to be more true than anything else. She loved Clark more than anything else in the world. That was what her heart said, and Lara had wanted an answer from the heart.

Opening her eyes, she met the eyes of Lara. "I'll do it."

A smiling Lara was the last thing Lois saw before she was engulfed in light again.

--

Gripping a coffee cup, Clark stared off into space without much crossing his mind. Four days since Lois had been swallowed by the light. He'd spent the first two days in the Fortress, trying to get an answer from Jor-El on what was going on, but the AI had gone silent. The Fortress still worked, but the voice of his father was no longer answering him.

He'd spent the next day doing nothing but helping people as Superman, having called in both himself and Lois as sick, doing the same when he woke up this morning. He was shocked that he'd actually fallen asleep, but having spent every moment of the day before helping people all over the world and the two before that trying to figure out what had happened, every moment feeling like he could be crushed by the worry, had apparently taken its toll on him.

All of a sudden a ringing like that from his childhood filled his ears, the sound that the key had often made to draw his attention. At the surprise of it his coffee cup had been turned to dust between his hands, but he ignored that, taking off at as fast as he could fly in the direction of the sound. He found himself flying north, towards the Fortress, and pushed himself for more speed until he landed inside of it, the ringing stopping as he set foot on the ground.

A second later he was greeted by the blinding white light again, a hand darting in front of his eyes to block it until it was gone a second later. Lowering his hand, he found himself looking at the back of Lois, standing there in the same spot she'd been taken from. After a couple seconds of no movement she collapsed, and he sped over to catch her, scooping her up in his arms. With on last look around, he took off.

Eyes popping open, Lois didn't recognize where she was. Turning her head, she found herself looking at walls she hadn't expected to see: those of the farmhouse. How had she ended up there? Throwing off the blanket that was covering her, everything that had happened hit Lois, and she blinked a couple times, shaking her head to try and straighten everything in her head. Half of it seemed like a dream, and the other half seemed too fantastical to have been anything but a scene from a book.

Getting out of the bed, Lois made her way to a mirror and found that she had, in fact, been changed. She looked exactly like she had when she was twenty. Running her hands all over her body, she paused and felt a few places before continuing, refamiliarizing herself with a body that she hadn't possessed in years. Things were a bit firmer than they had been, a few muscles a bit more taut.

Leaving the mirror behind, Lois walked out of the room and down the stairs, towards where the smell of coffee was emanating from. She found Clark sitting at the island, hunched over, looking like he was carrying a huge weight on his back. She deliberately hit the creaky spot on the bottom step and his head snapped over, and a second later she found herself wrapped up in Clark's arms, lifted off the floor a little bit.

"I was so worried, Lo, so scared that I'd caused something to happen that I wouldn't get you back from, that you wouldn't wake from..." He trailed off and she felt wetness on her shoulder. Was he crying? How long had she been out?

Snaking her fingers through his hair a few times, she kissed the side of his head. "It's all right, Clark," she said softly. "You won't lose me, I promise."

"I couldn't sleep once you got back, not with you so close but never awake. I've spent the last three days since you came back from wherever you were sent alternating between your bedside and down here, wondering if you'd wake up, if you'd ever be you again..." He trailed off again, hugging her a little tighter. She returned it, trying to convey to him how much she loved him. Three days since she'd gotten back? How long had everything taken?

Slowly he let his grip slacken, until a few minutes later she could hold his face in her hands. "I love you, Clark. I love you so much that I don't know what to do with all of it. I love you so much that you've turned me into some sap saying that my cup runneth over with love. I promise you, I was gone for a reason, and it was a good reason."

At that, she explained everything that had happened to him, giving him as many of the details as she could remember. He alternated between staring at her with his mouth open and asking about Lara; apparently the Fortress had never shown him much of Lara, or used her voice for anything, so he had a lot of questions about her. When she finally had everything out, he told her that not only had she been in the light for four days, but she'd been asleep for three since then. That had been about the time she'd noticed how ravenous she was, and had started munching on whatever snack food she could find in the kitchen before Clark had made her a real breakfast, despite it being mid-afternoon.

When all was said and done, they were sitting on the couch, huddled together, silently staring off into space.

"Where do we go from here?" Clark asked.

Lois inhaled deeply and released the breath slowly, smiling slightly as she did so. "We live, Clark, together, for as long as we have, and we be happy. In the end, that's all that matters."

--

"I could actually see flying cars, Clark. I could live that long. Hell, maybe I'll live long enough to see transporting, like on Star Trek, which could make even _you_ appear a bit slow. There's a fire, and boom, firefighters are there three seconds later with all the equipment. I bet it'd take YOU at least five seconds."

Walking through the entrance to STAR Labs, Lois walked up to the front desk, flashing a smile at the guard letting them into the rest of the building. She'd been here often enough for articles that she'd taken to using him as an anonymous source for whatever information he might happen upon. It never hurt to have ears in the right places, and he'd never given her bad information.

"Four, tops," he mumbled, making Lois grin as they made their way to the elevator. It had been a couple weeks since she'd had her encounter with Lara, and despite still having her reservations about living so far beyond her friends and family, she knew that it was for the best, because she'd be with Clark. The bottom line, in her mind, was that being with Clark would make all the losses easier to deal with, though no less difficult when they happened.

Because she would age more slowly, and because of the fact that she now looked almost ten years younger than she had, they'd decided to sit Rachel and Owen down and tell them about Clark. They would be the family she saw the most, even more so than Lucy and her father, in all likelihood. She'd barely seen Lucy in years, and she and her father had a relationship that was more officer and cadet than father and daughter.

Looking up at him as they stepped into the elevator, she ran a hand along the length of his arm. "Don't worry, Clark; you'll never be obsolete. The world will always need Superman, and I will always need you." Good lord had he turned her into a sap.

"Never in the history of the world has there been somebody so adept at painting a humbling picture of the future before making one feel like the most important person in the world." He bumped her lightly with his shoulder. "Love you, Lo, despite your humbling picture of the future."

"You better, because I love you too, despite your potentially humble future." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully as the elevator doors opened, which found them being looked at by a couple scientists, complete with cliche white coats. She simply raised an eyebrow at each as she walked by, daring either to even snigger while she was there. Neither did, fortunately, because really there wasn't much she'd have been able to do about it.

A moments walk found them entering the Doctor's lab, looking around for him as they closed the door behind them. "Dr. Jayne? You in here?"

"Miss Lane! Mr. Kent!" A man walked into her line of sight from her left, grinning wildly as he offered a hand out to shake hands with her and Clark. "I'm so glad that I was able to convince your editor to send you down here. This is... well, I made it work! They said it couldn't be done because of the energy requirements, but _I_ did it."

Lois nodded. "Well that's why we're here, Dr. Jayne. How about we get this demonstration going?"

The man nodded, motioning for them to follow as he walked back into the lab, making his way around piles of stuff that lay strewn about. Lois couldn't imagine what some of the stuff might have been, had it ever been anything.

Dr. Jayne stopped suddenly, grabbing something off the table and looking at it a moment before tossing it back and continuing on. When they finally got to the back of the lab, the doctor pointed at two large metal pillars, grinning wildly once more. "Here it is."

Pulling her recorded out of her bag, Lois hit the record button before speaking. "Dr. Jayne, how exactly does your time machine work?"

"Do either of you know much about wormholes?"

Never having had much luck with sciences of that nature, Lois shook her head, but apparently Clark knew something. "The basic principle of wormholes is that they take two points and create the shortest distance, a straight line, between them. The name literally comes from the example of a worm boring through an apple to get from one side to the other instead of going around the outside."

"Correctཀ Rudimentary, yes, but as you said that is the basic principle of it. Taking years of data and research, I studied them until I went cross-eyed. From that, though, I figured out how exactly to create one without draining the world of its power reserves."

"And how exactly can you do that?" Lois asked.

"Dark energy."

Lois frowned, having heard the term before but not being entirely familiar with it. Once again, Clark picked up the slack. "Dark energy? You actually figured out a way to harness it?"

"Yes, and I was as shocked as you were when it worked. Needless to say that this has the potential to solve all energy problems in the world, though I'm not entirely certain how safe harnessing it is yet. No ill effects on me, though, so it appears to be good."

Now THIS was a story. A man had figured out how to solve the world's energy problems, but instead of making that public he was trying to time travel. She didn't want to cut to the quick on the issue of time travel, but for her it paled in comparison to the relative value on a global scale. Not to mention that Dr. Jayne was going to be an insanely rich man. Maybe he was one of those scientists that didn't care about money.

"All right, Dr. Jayne, why don't you fire this sucker up so we can see it in action."

"Yes, good idea. Best to get to the nitty gritty."

--

Rubbing at the corner of an eye, Lois stifled a yawn with her other hand as she stared off at nothing. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a pack of crackers and started munching on a couple of them, offering one to Clark as he noticed them.

"No, thanks. Guess you're regretting skipping lunch now, aren't you?"

"I always regret skipping lunch, but there were things that needed to get done, people to see and places to go."

"The only person you saw was me, the place was your bedroom..."

"I think you should start calling it our bedroom."

"What? Why?"

"Because I think you should give up your apartment and move into my place. It's a waste of money for you to keep it, and the only time you're ever there is when you need to do laundry or don't want to wake me up after a late night, which I've told you time and again won't bother me."

He wasn't frowning, but she could tell by his body language that he wasn't entirely sure about it. No, that wasn't right; she knew that he wanted to move in with her, because he was always so reluctant to leave, and they were committed to each other totally. That only left... "I'm sure about this, Clark. I wouldn't be asking you if I hadn't thought this over a dozen times in a dozen ways, and in every way I want to do it. I love you, and I don't want you to be somewhere else when you could be right next to me. It makes no sense, and you know how I feel about things that make no sense." She leveled a glare on him that would be sure to remind him had he forgotten.

Holding up his hands in mock surrender, he smiled. "All right, I'm convinced. From this moment on, it's not your bedroom, it's _our_ bedroom."

"What year would you two like to go to?"

Lois looked over at the doctor, already having thought of an answer for him while he was getting the machine ready. She'd taken the time to look up facts while there as some downtime so she'd have an answer. "Dr. Jayne, I would like you to program that thing for September 18th, 1977, at 9:45 p.m."

The doctor didn't seem to care why she had picked the date and walked away, presumably to enter it into the computer, but Clark stepped in front of her, looking confused. "What happened on that date?"

"That, Clark, is the last date that Led Zeppelin played in Metropolis. We're going to the concert."

"We're what now?"

"We're going to go back in time and see Led Zeppelin play live. It was the coolest thing I could think of since I figured that he was going to ask us to use his device. He has to prove to the world that it works, and what better way for him to do so than to have two big name journalists use the thing?"

Shrugging, Clark looked like he was about to say something when suddenly there was a loud crack and a burst of bright light. Shielding her eyes, Lois's mouth fell open as he spotted a swirling vortex of light between the two pillars. She had not expected that. Honestly, she hadn't expected much of anything, but of what she could have conceived a big swirling vortex was low on the list. Pulling out her sunglasses and putting them on to block the brightness, Lois figured it was obvious question time. "I know this is probably a stupid question, but how exactly is one supposed to get back from the past without this giant wormhole generator thingy?"

"Well, this is version one. It's more impressive, so I like to use it." The doctor picked up a backpack from an adjacent desk and handed it to Lois. "This can do the same thing. It's how I got back from traveling to the year 1982. It's got an advanced chronometer in it that detects change in time, and is designed to bring the traveler back from whence he came exactly three seconds after disappearing into the past."

"Wait, you traveled in time already? To 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I was nostalgic."

Nodding, she figured that was fair. "All right then." She pulled the backpack on, hefting it a couple times before grinning back at Clark. "Let's go watch history, Clark!" With that, she took a few steps and jumped into the light.

--

Coming to a stop after a few steps, Lois pulled off her sunglasses and waited for Clark to come through the vortex. He did a second later, taking a few steps to stop himself as well. A second later the vortex was gone, and they were in a pitch black room. Pulling her cell phone out, Lois turned on the screen and used it to light the way so they could get to the door. Once in the hall there was plenty of light, and they made their way to the front of the building, walking outside.

"I'm going to say that we definitely time traveled," Lois said as they walked down the sidewalk. "Just look at the skyline; it's missing half the buildings that are there now."

"You're right."

Apparently no more than that needed to be said, so Lois stopped. He did the same a step later, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Monarch's stadium, please."

"We don't have tickets, Lois, or any money that can pass in 1977."

"Money? We don't need no stinkin' money, Clark; we have you." Before he could voice a protest, she jumped into his arms. "Instead of thinking about potentially breaking the law, Clark, how about you just consider this an early wedding gift."

"It's kind of more from you to you," he mumbled.

"Please, Clark? This is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity."

He eyed her a moment before finally shaking his head, and she smiled at him as the world around her turned into a blur.

--

"That was AWESOME! Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones... how do you do any better than that?" she wondered out loud, unable to wipe the grin off her face as they walked away from the recently finished concert. Holding up a t-shirt, she grinned at Clark. "Plus, who needs money when you can just flash a guy?"

She saw him roll his eyes as they walked. "Yes, Lois, let me express my thrill at that. From now on, can we keep your breasts between us?"

"You don't want me to share them with our future children?"

"I _guess_ that's acceptable, but besides them?"

"All right, no more going Girls Gone Wild for me anymore. I'm just on such a high after that show!"

"I think you may just be high after that show. I bet fifteen people around us were getting stoned during the concert."

"It's 1977; what'd you expect?" She waved a hand at him, indicating that she was dismissing that topic of conversation. She didn't _feel_ stoned. "Anyway, let's get somewhere secluded so that we can send ourselves back to 2015." Clark quickly scooped her up and the world once again turned into a blur, with him setting her down in a room she thought looked a lot like Dr. Jayne's office without the clutter. She took a step and the world spun a bit; it had been a while since super speed travel had had that effect on her... maybe she _was_ a little stoned.

Shaking it off, she moved next to Clark as he opened up the backpack. There was only one button, so he hit it, and a few seconds later there was a crack, with a vortex appearing. He picked the backpack up and put it on again, then looked over at her with an outstretched hand. She smiled and took it. "Ready to go home, Lois?"

"Ready, Clark."

Together, they jumped into the light.

--

"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"

"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"

Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No, but since I generally only understand about half of what you say anymore I don't think this should really count for anything."

Rolling her eyes, Lois spun her chair around until she was looking at Clark. Lifting her feet up, she rested them on her desk, letting her right leg rest on top of the left. "How in the world do you only understand about half of what I say?"

She watched him rub at an eye under his glasses for a second before he answered. "Well, it goes a little like this: you say something, Chloe says something, you two laugh, I have no idea why you're laughing and nobody bothers to explain it to me. Haven't you noticed how you say 'Explaining it ruins the joke, Smallville,' several times a day?"

Lois opened her mouth to retort but promptly shut it again when she realized she had nothing to say. Looking past her partner in crime, or at least that's what he was according to the people they brought to justice with their investigations, she focused her eyes on the bright skyline of Metropolis.

--

Just in case anybody is confused as to why time changed, allow me a short explanation. All the alternate timelines were results of them changing events in their personal histories that affected their births and how they lived their lives. In this situation, what happened was they went back in time, but they didn't interact with any family members of Lois or Chloe and just went to a concert. Nothing was changed, and because nothing happened before all the other changes, time is, for all intents and purposes, reset to the original timeline. I've been told that this makes at least a little sense, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Also: thank you to one and all who has read this story. Hopefully the next chapter, the last chapter, will wrap things up in a way you find works.


	24. Chapter 24

-- Chapter 24

"When you don't know how often you're yourself, I don't know how often I want to be around you. I've only ever wanted to know _you_, not the you that you show everyone else. You didn't have to be quiet and clumsy around me. You didn't have to be stoic and confident around me. You could have just been yourself. But when you don't even know how often you're yourself... well, that makes it hard for me to want to know you."

Lois walked up to Clark, crossing her arms over her chest in much the same way he had and looked him in the eye. "So here's how this is going to work. Until I figure out how I feel about the amalgam of all these versions of you, we won't speak in a manner beyond professionally, be it as partners or you helping me out of a situation. Hell, I don't know if I'llwant to talk to you until YOU figure out who the hell you are."

--

"I setup an interview for you two tomorrow afternoon with a scientist at STAR Labs. His name is Dr. Jayne and he claims to have made some giant steps in the area of time travel. I want you two to check it out."

"Time travel, Chief? Seriously?"

"Lane, we live in a city that's protected by an extra terrestrial that looks human but has the powers that most little boys dream of having. I'd be remiss to discount just about anything anymore."

"Fine, whatever. Don't blame us when there's no story there." Lois got up and walked out of the office, leaving Clark standing there with Perry.

"The hell did you do to her, Kent?"

Clark pursed his lips for a second before answering. "I told her something that she didn't want to hear, but didn't know that she didn't want to hear it."

"That's... strange."

--

Chloe shook her head and glared at them both before speaking. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" She looked over at him. "You tell her that you're Superman like you do and what do you expect? You know this isn't news that you tell somebody and they just accept it. It takes time, despite the fact that it does cause a few things about you make sense. Don't dump something like covering for you on her and expect her to just 'fall in line,' to use her words. It's Lois; she's never fallen in line with anything in her life, so she sure as hell isn't going to start now, especially when she is as pissed off at you as she has been at anybody in her life.

"And you," Chloe continued as she turned to Lois, "are going to have to reconcile with the fact that your dream man, or in this case dream intergalactic traveler, turned out to be a farm boy that once upon a time had a love affair with plaid shirts. Be angry about it, be hurt by it, but don't throw away a great friendship with an amazing guy because he kept a secret that screws with everything you thought you knew about him and his alter ego. You're going to hate yourself for a long time if you lose somebody that cares about you as much as he does, more than he should, really. Yes, you're the woman he likes. I'm tempted to say loves, just to ratchet up the tension."

He loved her? No, that could wait. "Well... but... I am not angry that my dream man turned out to be Clark, Chloeཀ He wasn't even my dream manཀ" Clark sighed and deflated a little, but he heard Chloe scoff before Lois went on. "I knew I never had a chance with Superman, but him turning out to be Clark sucks because I don't know who he is nowཀ"

"You're going to say that? Really? Is that why you're not willing to help Clark just a little bit by telling Perry something so that he can go off, be Superman and save lives? Because you don't _know him_ anymore? Or is this just you being unbelievably self-involved while you come to terms with things? Newsflash Lois: this is bigger than you being angry. Be a grownup and help out with something that _saves lives_. You know that if it hadn't been Clark with the secret identity, but somebody you didn't know or had only met in passing you'd have no problem covering."

Chloe sighed loudly, closing her eyes a moment before glancing at each of them. Clark didn't meet her eyes. "I swear to every god that may possibly exist, if I have to do this again I will not be held accountable for my actions and no judge in the free world will make me stand trial. Now, are you two going to be able to function as adults?"

--

Fighting drooping eyelids, Lois silently cursed Clark. He actually made her so angry that she'd forgotten to drink all of her coffee. Now here she was, waiting for the world's slowest time machine to warm up, and she was having trouble staying awake. It hardly mattered that it made sense for a time machine to take time to warm up; she wanted her science fiction promised fast time travel, damn it!

Great, now her lack of coffee and anger at Clark were making her irrational. Her anger wasn't half of what it had been when she'd first realized he was telling the truth about being Superman, about lying to her on a daily, if not hourly, basis. God, she didn't even care that he was Superman; it explained _a lot_. Somebody she considered a close friend, a friend as close to her as Chloe, lying to her like that was just unbelievable, no matter the reason.

But every damn time he did something as Superman these days, she felt her anger slipping a little. She still looked on with awe at what he did, and nothing was going to change that. But now that she knew it was Clark doing those things... it made her think of when they first met, when he'd been a farm boy with a penchant for amnesia throwing himself into things he shouldn't. It had been an endearing quality then, much as she'd never admitted it, and a big reason why they'd become friends, if seemingly against both their wills.

But who was she talking to minute to minute? She could see a difference now, in how he held himself when he was around her and Chloe, as opposed to when he was in public. It was startling to think that she'd never noticed it. Of course she'd noticed that he seemed more klutzy since he'd traveled the world, but she just chalked it up to his travels having a different effect on him than her travels as a kid had had on her.

And then there was that stupid little voice in the back of her head. It was probably the voice of her common sense, which she tended to ignore in situations like this, but she couldn't shut it out anymore.

_You want to forgive him. You want your friend and partner back. He's Clark Kent; his secret exploits don't matter because it's just him doing what he's always done, which is helping people that need it and making the world a better place._

Pushing the stupid, annoying and sensible voice to the back of her mind, Lois adjusted her chin so that it sat more squarely on her palm. She knew she would forgive Clark eventually. He was too good a friend not to. That didn't mean she had to let him off the hook any sooner than he deserved, though, and she was planning on making him wait a little longer than he deserved. Even if her anger was gone, she could keep up the attitude towards him for weeks, if not months.

_Do you really want to be without him that long?_

She'd have grumbled, but the stupid voice was right. Clark had been there with her and for her at any hour seven days a week since he'd come back. That didn't even count the innumerable times that he'd saved her as Superman.

Getting addicted to how he looked at her... what a moronic thing to say. Chloe was right; she was the woman that he was interested in, and possibly even loved. Sure, she had blinders on to how he looked at her, but when somebody is your friend for a decade one can lose track of the occasional detail. It certainly didn't help that he was moonlighting as a man in tights, leaving so very little to the imagination. Granted, she'd seen him naked, so at least she could now say she'd seen Superman naked. Not that she would spread that around, but it did take a bit of the mystery out of him. Not that there was any left, now.

She didn't know if she had loved Superman from afar, but it hadn't been far from it. She'd been so close to just rising up onto her toes and kissing him dozens of times, but had held back out of respect. She knew that they could have been good together, even without knowing a whole lot about him, because they stood for the same things. Now that left her wondering if she'd be good with Clark, and every time that crossed her mind the anger that was slowly fading flared up anew.

Just as the anger flared he nudged her, and she was about to lay into him when she noticed a whirring sound in the room and Dr. Jayne walked over to them.

"What year would you two like to go to?"

Clark looked over at her. "You decide."

Damn right she was going to decide. She opened her mouth to say 1990 when suddenly her vision wavered and she had to grab the table to keep from swaying out of her chair. Without thought, she spoke. "2044."

"Are you all right, Lois?"

Blinking a couple times, Lois shook the cobwebs out of her head. She really did need a cup of coffee, or a good nights sleep. What the hell had that been? "I'm fine, Clark. Just forgot to have my fourth cup of coffee earlier today."

"I know, I was counting. Are you sure that's all it was? You looked like you were about to say something, but then you suddenly grabbed the table and your voice got strange, which is when you said 2044."

"I'm _fine_," Lois said through gritted teeth, choosing to ignore what had happened instead of thinking about it. It was a practice that came back to bite her in the ass at times, but she could live with teeth marks where nobody saw them. "I said what I said, how I said it, so let's just go to 2044, all right?"

What a weird year to choose. Why the hell had she said that? What did it matter why she said it, though? One year was as good as another if the time machine did or didn't work. One way she ended up in another year, and the other way she was still here and her choice made no difference. And in the end, she had an article, which was what really mattered.

Lois put her sunglasses on before she got up and walked over to stand next to Dr. Jayne. "I know this is probably a stupid question, but how exactly is one supposed to get back from the past without this giant wormhole generator thingy?"

"Well, this is version one. It's more impressive, so I like to use it." The doctor picked up a backpack from an adjacent desk and handed it to Lois. "This can do the same thing. It's how I got back from traveling to the year 1982. It's got an advanced chronometer in it that detects change in time, and is designed to bring the traveler back from whence he came exactly three seconds after disappearing into the past

"Wait, you traveled in time? To 1982?"

"It's the year I was born, so I was nostalgic. Now it's your turn." He moved towards her with surprising speed, and before she could move to block him he'd pushed her, and white light enveloped her.

--

Stumbling as she hit solid floor, it barely seemed like anything had happened. She'd been pushed into the wormhole and had stumbled out the other side, not missing a step. An interesting way to travel, though she'd rather not have been pushed. She was going to try the damn thing anyway, so there really wasn't any need! If he hadn't pushed her, she wouldn't almost have lost grip on the backpack.

Swinging it up, she settled it on her shoulders and pulled off her sunglasses, moving to stuff them in a pocket when suddenly Clark came through the wormhole and ran straight into her. He landed on top of her, putting them in an awkward position. He didn't seem quick to move, and Lois finally turned her head to stare up at him. "Are you going to get off of me, or are you going to make this worth my while?" That got him to move, and soon he was pulling her up. "Why the hell did he push me?

"He said he just wanted to make sure that his work was seen, that there was no ill intent or anything like that."

"Yeah, because he has a lot of credibility points with me right now," Lois grumbled. "Let's get outside and see what we can find."

Lois leading the way, they made their way out of STAR Labs and found themselves staring at familiar ground with much different objects adorning it. The road itself looked different, having been paved over and repainted who knows how many times. If it was 2044, she was sure the city had gotten around to it at least once.

Raking a hand back through her hair, Lois spun to face the skyline of the city, and found her eyes widening at how different it looked. Twenty-nine years had really given the city a different look. The gleam was... gleamier? That wasn't really the right word for it, but it was the way mind seemed to process it. "Are you seeing the same things I'm seeing, Clark?"

"I am. Everything looks..."

"Gleamier?"

"Yeah. Well, no, because that isn't a word, but I understand." They stood there looking around for a second before he spoke again. "Do you want to go into the city?"

"Yeah, ok. You think they have taxi's in the future?"

Suddenly she found herself getting scooped up into his arms. Before she had time to protest, he smiled at her and suddenly they were elsewhere, her eyes adjusting as the world became right again. She found her feet on the ground, and held onto him a second to make sure she had her balance before straightening. "Would it be too much to ask?"

"Would you have accepted?" He had her there. "You don't even call me Smallville anymore, Lois. If you refuse to use my nickname, I doubt you're going to let me pick you up and carry you into the city."

"Just because you aren't sure doesn't mean you get to choose to do whatever you want."

"Funny, you never complained when Superman picked you up and took you somewhere. I can think of at least a dozen instances where something like this happened, but you never once got mad at Superman for it."

"So who are you? Are you Clark? Superman? Are you Smallville, the goofy farm boy?"

"I'm all three, but all of them are just me. I'm me, Lois. We can all only be who we are; nothing more, nothing less. You act like I'm a totally different person than I was, but I'm not. Everybody has sides; I do, Chloe does and even you do! Don't pretend you don't!"

Scoffing, Lois crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't have sides. I'm the same person, always. It's a Lois Lane trademark!"

"Bullshit." Lois's eyes widened, hearing Clark curse. Should could count on her fingers, with a few to spare, the number of times she'd heard him do that. "I've been in the unique position of seeing two sides of Lois Lane. First, there's the side of you that everybody sees. The tough, never shaken Lois Lane that gets the story and takes no prisoners. But that's not the Lois Lane I fell in love with. When you let your guard down, when you just talked with me when I was Superman... when you're just you, without the walls or protection, you're the most unique and beautiful person I've ever met.

"If I'm guilty of something, which you obviously think I am, it's that I couldn't let my guard down. I saw you with your guard down, and I fell in love." He stopped and shook his head. "I can't believe I can say that so easily, but it's true. I wanted to do the same, to let my guard down and just let you see the truth of it all, but all the doubt I've ever had in my life attacked me at the thought. I tried anyway, a few times, but I could never follow through with it, and every time I chickened out, you kept opening up to Superman. I say that I got addicted to how you looked at me, but the truth is I got addicted to how you looked: free."

Not able to think of anything to say, she couldn't stop Clark from going on. "The only good thing I can say comes from everything that has happened in that I can't hide anymore. Now it's just me. No secret identities, no running off with a flimsy excuse and no acting like I can't take three steps without tripping over my own feet. Well, not when we're alone, anyway. I'll just be me from now, and I hope someday that's enough for you so you can be free again.

"But you can't hide anymore, because I know what's inside all your walls now. I'll never forget what a Lois Lane, free of walls and burdens, looks like. Hopefully, someday, I'll get the privilege of seeing that again."

Turning away from him, Lois walked out of the alley, not really looking where she was going. She noticed the park ahead and kept going towards it. He'd fallen in love with her because she looked _free_? She'd never felt like she'd let her walls down, but around Superman she'd never been quite sure. He'd been such a disarming figure to her that acting the way she did was as natural as breathing.

Entering the park, Lois stopped walking with her head down and did her best to put Clark out of her mind, at least for a moment. A moment's peace would do her good. A man walked by her, near to staring as he did so, and Lois guess that subtlety must have died as the years had passed. Cracking her neck, she kept walking, almost, _almost_ silently thanking Clark for giving her some time alone.

This was not how she had pictured a trip to the future. You go to the future and you jump into a flying car, _Back To The Future_ style. Of course, a wormhole wasn't nearly as stylish as a DeLorean, but one time traveled in whatever way was available. Needless to say, however, she got there and whether or not the cars flew, a confrontation with Clark about why he'd lied to her and had fallen in love with her had never been in the picture. It had even been in the picture outside the picture.

Stopping in her tracks, Lois frowned as a couple with interlocked hands stood next to the path and stared at her like she'd grown a third arm. "Anything I can help you two with?" They shook their heads silently, and the lack of speaking made Lois want to move on sooner rather than later. What the hell had that been about?

Shaking it off, Lois continued down the path towards the center of the park, but her peace was short lived as Clark jogged up to her a moment later, silently falling in step next to her. They continued on that way for a few minutes until the silence and the occasional pair of eyes on them as they walked annoyed her into speech. "I'm not going to forgive you yet."

"That yet is the best word you've ever said to me."

Lois rolled her eyes, but didn't have it in her to shoot back with something sarcastic. "I didn't even realize that I had stopped calling you Smallville. I don't know if it was my brain being aware of something unconsciously or what, but I think it's indicative of how mad I was at you. I think you have to earn the nickname back before you really know that you're in my good graces again. And _don't_ count on that happening anytime soon."

"I figured I needed to be in for the long haul."

As another gawker walked by them, Lois threw up her hands. "All right, what the hell is going on around here? When it was just me, people were staring. Maybe it's the clothes, who knows? I am wearing fashion that's about thirty years old. But I would bet a month's salary that even more people started staring when you joined me, so now they're looking at both of us like we shouldn't be here. Why?"

"I have no idea," Clark said, "but now that you mention it people have been acting strangely."

"Your powers of observation are astounding, Clark," Lois mumbled, shaking her head at him. "Did you really not notice it until I pointed it out?"

"I'm actually kind of used to it. People stare at me when I do my non-paying job, and I had to learn to either block that out or get bugged by it every time I donned the tights. Obviously I chose not to be bugged, so I kind of just ignore people that stare at me unbelievingly."

"How nice for you." Pulling off the backpack, Lois handed it to Clark, no longer wanting to bear the weight of it. "Unfortunately, I am not immune, and thus am annoyed by all these people staring like we're walking around naked." Pointing at one of the people nearest to her, she motioned for the teen to come over to them. He did so slowly. "What's your name, kid?"

"I-I'm Jake."

"Hi, Jake. Maybe you can answer a question for me." She waved a hand around, indicating all the people staring. "Why are all these people looking at us like they are?"

Jake didn't speak, but a voice came from behind them. "I don't know how you do it, but you two always seem to attract attention."

Turning, Lois found herself staring at a man floating in the air, clothed in tights. Lois looked from him to Clark, then back again. She knew it wasn't Clark, but damn if the man didn't look like him. "He looks like you, Clark."

"I was about to say the same to you, Lois."

Surveying the newcomer's features, she didn't really see much resemblance to herself. Maybe the nose. "Who are you?"

"That's... complicated." He floated down and handed her a piece of paper. Looking at it, she found an address and directions on how to get there. "I need to go, but I think you two can find your way. See you later." A second later he was flying off, his speed increasing until Lois could no longer see him.

She looked up at her partner. "Who the hell was that? Do you have relatives you aren't telling me about?"

"Not that I know of, Lois." Clark was still staring off in the direction the other flying man had flown off in, apparently able to track him a little more easily than she could. Looking down at the piece of paper in her hands, she recognized the handwriting as Clark's, but didn't say anything to him.

"Well, we have somewhere to go now, unless you don't trust him, whoever he is."

"Am I allowed to pick you up so we can fly? As soon as we get somewhere not so high profile, anyway."

Lois nodded at him, deciding not to be obstinate. They made their way out of the park and into a nearby alley where they could avoid eyes. Clark changed into his suit and they were soon en route to their unknown destination.

--

"All I'm saying is that you never complained about it when I was Superman."

Glaring at Clark for a second as she walked, Lois turned back to face the direction they were walking. "Just because I didn't say anything doesn't mean I wasn't thinking it. I was simply too enamored of Superman to want to express to him just how much all the wind buffeting me while we flew together made me look like a mess. Clothes were wrinkled, my hair ended up looking inexplicable... look, you don't ruin a good thing just because you end up looking like you've been tumbled a few times. Now, though, with him being you and vice versa, or whatever, I am free to speak my mind."

"I see how it is. Before you were trying to show an idealized version of yourself. Now you can just be you. Wait, that sounds familiar..."

"Oh, don't you DARE compare me trying to soften my edges a bit for a guy I really liked to you flat out lying for years on end."

"You call it softening the edges when you do it, but I present an idealized version of myself, in tights no less, and it's just plain old lying when I know you were doing the same thing. Free as you looked, you weren't always really being yourself; Lois Lane without her edge is not a Lois that's as much fun knowing."

"We're here," she said, ignoring the last thing he'd said as she stopped walking. Where they'd ended up was in front of a large house with a nice yard full of trees. The trees were full and green, the grass the same. She realized she hadn't given Dr. Jayne a specific day or even time of year she wanted to go, but apparently he'd sent them to late spring. At least it looked and felt that way. The house was pretty nice looking, too. A pale yellow, it looked like it probably had four or five rooms. She thought she smelled cooking meat, but in a place lined with houses like this, she was hardly surprised.

Making her way up the walkway, Lois had no idea what they were going to find in the house, and frowned as she noticed a small note on the door, telling them to go around to the back. Handing the note to Clark, he read it and shrugged as he looked back at her. They silently walked around to the left side of the house and found a gate, opening it and walking into the backyard.

A man was standing in front of a grill with his back to them, which was apparently why she'd smelled meat. Lois was about to say something to the mystery man when somebody else beat her to speaking.

"Despite having been in your position, I really questioned whether or not you two were going to be here on time for the food."

Turning around, Lois was confronted with something she didn't think she'd have to see for about, oh, thirty years: herself, with wrinkles and half her hair gone gray. She groaned. "Come on, really? I'm meeting myself in the future? That's just, like, nine kinds of cliché. And unless I miss my guess, the guy over at the grill must be Clark, right?"

Older Lois nodded. "It's predictable, I know. I was equally perturbed when I was in your position, and I have a feeling when you're in my position you'll be equally entertained by it all."

"You find this entertaining?"

Her older self shrugged, taking a seat at some patio furniture as she did so. "I'm looking at myself when I'm twenty-nine, having now doubled that age. I've lived things you can't imagine with people you wouldn't believe. It's something of an entertaining situation, at least from this side. Beer?"

Lois nodded, walking over and taking one from herself, twisting off the top and taking a long drink. She observed her counterpart for a second, and was unable to hold her thoughts in. "I never thought about what I was going to look like when I got older, but I think I look pretty good."

"You have no idea," older Lois said, grinning. Reaching up, she started pulling at something near her eye and a second later, it appeared that she was pulling off her skin. Lois gawked as she pulled off what she now saw was prosthetics, which came off cleanly and left her looking at a mirror of herself instead of a version of herself that looked to be the correct age. No, not a mirror of herself; the Lois from the future actually looked _younger_. "Look damn good for fifty-eight, don't I?"

"What... how..." Lois downed some of her beer, wishing that alcohol made everything make more sense. "This is nuts."

"I imagine you're going to have some questions, so get ahead and ask. But don't start with why I look the way I do. We'll get to that later, I promise. There are other questions to answer which will lead to that answer. Oh, and to save us some confusion, you guys be Lois and Clark, we'll be Smallville and Lane."

"Fair enough," Lois mumbled. Looking back at Clark, he just stood there, frowning. "Would you stop that and sit down, Clark? You're making me nervous standing there."

"Doesn't any of this bug you?"

"Any of what?"

"The implications of what we're seeing here, Lois... it's strange. Coming here, seeing all this, it creates something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn't it? Lane and Smallville come here, see this while they're Lois and Clark and talk to a Lane and Smallville of their own, who they themselves had once been a Lois and Clark in this situation. Where does the circle begin, or end? Can it end? Not knowing that and knowing it's bound to happen, it binds them into a situation where they end up here, waiting for us. We get here, experience this, and knowing it's going to happen, it influences us so that we end up here."

Great, now her head was going to hurt from trying to figure all of that out. "Do you really have to be so in-depth about it, Clark? You can't just say 'We're here, so let's have a drink, live the cliché and eat a cheeseburger?'"

"That never changes," Lane said, which made Lois frown.

"I'm sorry that I got so caught up in the ramifications of our travels, Lois. Let's have a drink, live the cliché and eat a cheeseburger." His raised eyebrow spoke to his lack of seriousness, but she ignored it and took another swig of her beer.

"Speaking of burgers, here they are." As Smallville put the plate of burgers down on the table, Lois got her first good look at him, and noted how he looked exactly like Clark. He appeared to have aged even less than she had, which meant he probably hadn't aged at all.

"You guys know what we're going to ask, because you've lived this before, right? Because you've been in our position and asked the questions, you know not only what was asked but what to say as an answer."

"How about we just ask, Clark," Lois said, rolling her eyes and taking a bite of burger. After a few chews and swallowing, she got to her first question. "Who was the flying guy that gave us the address to this place?"

"That was our son," Lane said around a bite. "He can be a little headstrong at times, but you get that."

"Oh gimme a break. Really? Clark and I end up having a kid together?"

"He's something of a lovable guy, though with how quiet he is today you might not be able to notice."

"Yeah, because you _never_ dominate a conversation, Lane," Smallville said with a grin.

"Fair enough. Yes, we have a son." Holding her left hand up, she pointed to her ring finger. "Married, children, house in the 'burbs. I think we could have stayed in the city, honestly, but was cheaper to buy this place than get some place big enough downtown. It has all worked out pretty well, though, so I won't complain."

"It's been twenty-four years since we moved here, Lane, and you still mention that you think we could have stayed in the city."

"But I don't _complain_ about it, now do I, Smallville?" She grinned at him before continuing. "But yeah, you two will find you're pretty good together. The partnership works so well for a reason."

"You said children." Lois left it that, figuring the question was obvious.

"Yeah, we have a son, our oldest, and two daughters, who both wish they could have been here but are busy at college. They're twins, by the way. Fraternal, not identical."

"That must've been a handful," Lois muttered, trying to imagine Lucy being the same age as her instead of younger.

"You have no idea. Yet."

"What are their names?"

"Whatever you choose," Smallville said, wiping his hands off on a napkin.

"You're not going to tell us?"

"We could, but we'll let you decide. Gotta have some decisions to make, don't you?"

Lois grunted, figuring that to be enough of a response as she finished off her cheeseburger. "Why are you still young? I figure Clark's heritage explains him, but that doesn't explain you, Lane. I have no problem with not aging, and even looking younger in the future, and the prosthetics are obvious because questions would obviously be raised, but I would at least like to know why."

"You carry part of the answer with you all the time, Lois. For the other... well, Clark's heritage does have something to do with it. When you find heaven, everything will be made clear."

"Don't be cryptic. You know how much I hate that."

Lane shrugged and took another bite of burger, winking at her. Lois fought the urge to grumble. "Fine, be that way. Next question: we were walking through the park earlier today, and as we were doing so people were looking at us like we were celebrities. What the hell was that about?"

"You two might bear a passing resemblance to some statues on the other side of the park from where you were."

"Statues!"

"Yeah, that was flattering. Over the years, Lois Lane and Superman became inexorably linked, so when they decided to make a statue of one for his good work not only for the city, but the world, they threw in a likeness of me, us. It was before I started the prosthetics, so the statue looks almost exactly like you. They screwed up my ass, though, in my opinion; it looks way out of proportion compared to the rest of me. Plus, I never wear skirts. They're _horrible_ when I need to run."

Well she couldn't argue that last bit, though she had to resist the urge to reach down and make sure her butt was indeed not disproportionate. Stupid reaction, she knew, but she couldn't help it. Looking at Clark to get her mind off of the proportionate size of her butt, he still wore a frown. "Are you going to be ok, Clark, or is your mind going to crumble under the weight you're putting on it?"

He rolled his eyes before looking at their older counterparts. "One question: are you two together because this happened, or do you think it would have happened otherwise?"

Lane was the one to respond, unsurprisingly. "This was always in the cards, I believe. There were feelings on both sides that neither of us could ignore. Smallville loved me before all this, and I loved him, no matter how unsure of it I was. Really, I loved Superman, but once I found out the love was kind of transferred. It was like seeing the Clark I had known as a kid, except he was all grown up, free of the burdens he thought he'd had and had mostly just placed upon himself. It's hard to fight the attraction factors of noble, intelligent and very, _very_ hot."

"And now," Smallville said, "I believe you two are due back in the year 2015."

"That's it?" Lois asked. "We get a burger, a beer and a couple questions before you send us on our way?"

"That's about it. You get back only three seconds after you leave, but you don't want to spend all your time in the future, do you? Don't you always do your best to live in the now?"

"That's cheating, using my own philosophy against me."

"All's fair when arguing with yourself. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an assignment we need to finish and turn in by the end of the day, and as you both know, these things don't write themselves. Though, they are close to making that technology affordable now."

"One more question: I was going to say 1990, but said 2044 instead. Why?"

"Ask Jor-El when you're in heaven. Trust me, that'll be an experience." Shaking her head, she wrapped her arm around Smallville's as he walked up next to her and they headed inside, leaving the younger pair sitting alone.

They sat in silence for a moment, Lois finishing off her beer and staring off into space. Married to Clark with three kids. Married to _Clark_. It was nice to know that she hadn't ended up alone, which really would have sucked, and Clark was a really good guy, obviously, with everything he did, but still... given their history, it was just hard to imagine spending her life with him. Well, in that close a proximity, anyway. She'd figured they'd be close friends for the rest of their lives, but married? That was unexpected. Three kids, too. Kids had never liked her much, in her experience, but maybe her own had liked her. Loved, even.

"Guess we should go home," Clark said, interrupting her thoughts. She watched as he opened up the backpack and walked to the center of the yard, and as she got up Lois saw him push a button on the device. A moment later a wormhole appeared, and after a glance back at the house and around the yard, she got a running start and jumped in.

--

Coming out of the wormhole, Lois found herself stopping amidst tall grass that looked like it hadn't been cut in months. As Clark came through the wormhole, she realized that where the house they would one day live in was simply and empty lot. "We really should have gone back to STAR Labs before we came back. I'm gonna end up getting chiggers in this junk." Looking over at Clark, she found that he was in his Superman garb. "What's up? Somebody need help?"

"No, I was just going to fly us back to STAR Labs so we can return the backpack, and then I was going to go talk to Jor-El."

"Who is he?"

"My biological father."

Lois's eyebrows climbed up her forehead. "I thought that all your people were dead, aside from Supergirl, and holy crap, Kara is Supergirl, isn't she?" Clark only nodded, so Lois continued. "Well, that little discovery aside, I'd like to go with you to talk to Jor-El. I've been told it's something of an experience."

"Sometimes that's an understatement," she heard him mutter, though she wasn't sure he'd meant that to be heard. He picked her up and a moment later they were in the air, heading towards STAR Labs.

"Heaven," Lois mumbled, looking around at the place she'd once thought of as the afterlife. A Fortress made of crystals. Unbelievable.

"Jor-El! We need to talk to you!"

Lois raised an eyebrow as Clark yelled into the air of his Fortress, which to her explained a lot for why he'd been sent to Earth. If she'd lived her whole life in a place like the Fortress, she would have tried like hell to find someplace lush to send her son. Jesus, she was going to have a son and _two_ daughters. Rubbing at the back of her neck, she pushed that to the back of her mind and focused on what was going on in the here and now.

"You have brought the human woman with you, Kal-El?"

Looking around, Lois didn't see a source for the voice. Shouldn't the place at least have speakers, or were the crystals simply vibrating his voice out? Like that really mattered; she was standing in a damn ice palace called the Fortress of Solitude! "My name is Lois Lane," she said, raising her voice like Clark had.

"Is Lois Lane your mate, Kal-El?"

"Not yet," Lois muttered before raising her voice again and blocking Clark from saying anything. "Look, something strange happened. A scientist developed a method of time travel, but when I was about to say the year 1990 I got all dizzy and said 2044 instead, and I have no idea why. My future self said to talk to you about it."

"This is a repeated instance of this reality, Lois Lane. There had been a time loop, and in order to stop the loop from happening again I exerted influence over you, instead sending you both to a time where a loop could not be created."

"You _exerted influence_? What the hell does that mean?"

"Jor-El has been able to control people before," Clark said, but was frowning. "When you controlled Lionel you had used his contact with the crystal as a catalyst. How did you do it with Lois?"

"Lois Lane bears the bracelet you possess that is meant for your true one."

"I've only shown her the bracelet a couple times! And she wasn't even wearing it when you used her to stop the loop! It's back in Smallville, on the farm, Jor-El!"

"Uh, Clark?" He looked over at her, and Lois smiled sheepishly, pulling the bracelet out of her pocket. "I may have had it on me at the time."

"What... how did you get that?"

"Last time we were out at the farm, your mom _may_ have found me looking at it, and _may_ have said that I could go ahead and keep it."

"Why were you looking at it?"

"Well I don't know! It's beautiful, and I kinda couldn't get it out of my head when we got there. I never wore it after that because it would have raised questions I didn't want to answer, but I liked keeping it with me. Usually it's in my purse, but occasionally I keep it in my pocket so I can fidget with it."

"She is your True One, Kal-El. Once the bracelet came in contact with her, it drew her to it."

"All my training and I still didn't know about this. Perfect." Shaking his head a couple times, he turned back to her. "Well, it seems we have our answer as to why you said 2044."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Place the bracelet upon your arm, Lois Lane."

Looking around, she frowned for a second and looked to Clark. He just shrugged, apparently not knowing any more about what was going on that she did. Putting the bracelet on, she waited a second, then was suddenly engulfed in a white light.

--

"Would I still be human?"

Lara nodded. "Yes, you would still be human. Just... advanced."

Well, at least there was that. She still couldn't get her mind around everything. Living to be two hundred years old, never getting sick... the ability to have a child with Clark. Well, that wasn't any more mind blowing than going to the future and seeing one of them. But outliving all her family... and her job. How would she explain the fact of her slow aging? That was why she was going to have to learn to put on prosthetics. At some point was she going to have to fake her death? Strange thought. Scrubbing a hand over her face, she groaned; it was just too much information for her brain to process.

Lara had said think with her heart, though. Closing her eyes, Lois let her thoughts slip away and found one fact to be truer than anything else. She loved Clark, much as she thought she could deny that fact, and spending her life with him seemed like it would be an amazing journey. That was what her heart said, and Lara had wanted an answer from the heart.

Opening her eyes, she met the eyes of Lara. "I'll do it."

A smiling Lara was the last thing Lois saw before she was engulfed in light again.

--

Eyes popping open, Lois found herself in her bed and sat up, looking around. With a shake of her head, she got out of bed and stretched, making her way out of her room and into the kitchen. She found that coffee was already going and looked around, spotting Clark sitting on the couch. "How long have I been out?"

Looking up, he smiled at her as she sat down on the couch next to him. "Three days. Guess all that happened, everything about your physiology that was changed, knocked your body out for a while."

"Seems that way."

They sat in silence a moment, before Clark spoke, asking out of the blue, "Do you feel trapped, Lois?"

Frowning, she shrugged. "By what?"

"By everything that we've seen and heard. First we go to the future and find out that we're married and have children. Then we come back and find out that not only did Jor-El exert influence over you, so to speak, but he also tells us that you're my True One, my Soul mate, basically. Everything that's happened kind of points to us being together, whatever we try to choose."

"We could try to change things, Clark, but do we want to?" Crossing her arms, she looked down at the floor for a moment before continuing. "We looked and sounded happy in the future, Clark. In fact, we sounded exactly the same. I talked a lot, and you chimed in with something to add to the conversation or a sarcastic remark. We didn't look like people that had been forced into something, forced into a life together because we were too afraid to change things and end up alone. I could think of a worse future than being happy with somebody I love, still doing what I love in my favorite city in the world. I'd be hard pressed to think of a better one, though.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of keeping my free will. But I don't feel like seeing what I've seen and hearing what I've heard compromises that any. If anything, it confirms that I make good choices in the future, and that's somewhat reassuring. Hell, I'm going to make a decision right now." Reaching over, she turned his head and kissed him lightly, pulling away a second later. "I've always wanted to kiss Superman, and now I have. I think it was a good choice."

"Not going to argue that."

"Good. Our future is whatever we make of it, and it will be a good one. Now come on; we have things we need to do."

"Superman already visited Dr. Jayne to impart the danger of what can happen with time travel. Plus, he's now aware of what could happen if he went public with the technology and it fell into the wrong hands. "

"Good." Lois said, "Now we need to go to Perry and tell him what happened and why we won't be writing the article. No matter how much right the public has to know, time travel has too much opportunity for abuse. I don't think he needs to know the specifics, though, about us. I doubt he'd believe us if we told him we ended up married." Shaking her head, Lois leaned against him, smiling. "Come on, Smallville. If we're going to get to the future, we gotta start in the present."

The End.


End file.
